Resident Evil: Code Genesis
by VampireQueenAkasha
Summary: Post RE6. After the incidents involving Neo Umbrella, the BSAA set their sights on an enemy who is believed to have pulled all the strings behind the events leading up to bioterrorism. They only have one name to work with - Alex Wesker - as well as a belligerent few who are believed to be Wesker Children. M for violence and language. Alternate take on my original CODE GENESIS fic.
1. Part One

**Resident Evil: Code Genesis  
**

**Author's Note**: Well, this is interesting. When I first made Resident Evil: Code Genesis years ago, I had no realized how popular it would get. It started out as a "fanwank" fic that I gradually added to Gory Storm (a Resident Evil Fanwiki page) and turned into a more realistic game scenario. Granted, some folks had come to me about it possibly melding too close to RE6. Or that RE6 may have similar things to my fic. Well, RE6 sucked butt, it will always suck butt and no amount of DLC will ever recover that crappy ass game. So I AM letting this take place after with a few references to it, but other than that, I want to try and forget that pile of shit was ever published into the gaming world. LOL.

_"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … So God created man is His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created He them."_

-Genesis 1:26-27

_"I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill."_

-Mahatma Gandhi

**By: VampireQueenAkasha**

~O~

**Part One**

_It's been five years since the incident in Kijuju; since Albert Wesker was finally defeated._

_Things haven't been easy since then. Recently there has been new information surfacing regarding the Wesker children; children mass-produced at Ozwell Spencer's command. So far, the only lead I have of this is a list that was left at the Spencer estate, but it hasn't helped me in my search. Meanwhile, the President of the United States has his hands full on the sudden sharp increase in bio-terrorist activity all across the world. It's a real mess._

_I've searched everywhere for these Wesker children; no one knows anything and most of the parents who had raised them always wind up dead. My search eventually takes me to the city of Newark where I learn that there's one person still alive. A woman who goes by the name of Rose Bedford. She works as a Microbiologist at the city's pharmaceutical company called New Genesis. Young too. Her father worked for Umbrella in the past until he was shot down. It's been a pattern recently; most Umbrella employees end up dead. I haven't been able to figure out why._

_But I have a feeling I will soon enough._

Alan Moody led Chris Redfield through the police station, a tense and sour look on his face. As the commissioner, he had enough on his plate already and people were already concerned about having the BSAA in the city.

"Redfield, just do your job quick and get moving on," he told the man, "You being here makes some of these folks a bit nervous."

Chris nodded his head, looking around at the watching people behind their desks. "I can see that," he said, "But it's important that I talk to her. If she knows anything, it would help."

Moody sighed and led Chris into a room with a two-way mirror. They looked through it into a room with a solitary table and chair. Sitting in the chair was a young woman smoking a cigarette. She had thin black hair and dark blue eyes. She was wearing a black jacket and blue jeans with a white tank top beneath. All in all, she appeared to be calm and content just smoking her cigarette. She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb.

"So that's her?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, that's Rose." Moody said, "I brought her in and her friends followed like rats."

Chris looked at him curiously. "Friends?"

"Yeah. They go on about how they look out for her. Knew her for a while," Moody continued, "They might know something that could help you out."

Chris nodded his head. "Okay. I'll talk to her."

"Good luck," Moody warned, as Chris picked up a stack of folders, "She's got a bit of an attitude problem."

"I'll take my chances," Chris said, stepping into the room.

Rose glanced up briefly at the sight of Chris walking in before glancing back down at the table, seemingly uninterested in his presence. He took a spot across from her and smiled slightly. "Hey, how are you doing?" he asked, "Sorry they had to drag you in here, but you know it's very important that we have your full cooperation." No response welcomed him, so he tried another tactic. "I'm Chris Redfield and-"

"I know who you are," Rose interrupted with a small smirk on her face, "What can I do for you, Redfield?"

Chris paused, a little taken aback by that before he cleared his throat and opened one of the folders. Rose recognized that her name was printed on the flap. "I've taken a quick look at your file," he told her, "I understand that you might know something that could be of help to us in the BSAA."

Rose arched a brow. "Really?" She chuckled and put the cigarette out in an ashtray beside her. "I don't see how I could be of much help. I'm just a scientist."

Chris' eyes landed on the terrible scars on the tops of her hands and wanted to inquire about them, but decided against it. He swallowed slightly and was silent before he looked at her. "Do you know a man named Albert Wesker?"

Rose shrugged. "I've heard of him. Never met him in real life though."

"Well then I'm sure you know what he's done. What he _almost _did," Chris continued, staring down at the contents of Rose's folder; there were pictures of her and a mug shot as well as a police file, "But that's not why I'm here. I'm here because we have reason to believe that you may have played a small part in their project."

Rose frowned curiously, glancing up at him. "Project?"

Chris sighed. "I can't go into too much detail, but it involved Albert Wesker," he told her.

Rose furrowed her brow and decided to cooperate to a small extent. "My dad..." she began, "He left me some notes to try and help me understand why he was killed." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a few crumbled up pieces of paper. She gave Chris a funny, somewhat embarrassed look. "Sorry. I'm a bit messy." She handed him the papers after attempting to smooth them out a bit. "I got this map here that dad left. Nothing much in it but a few islands. He mentions a facility."

Chris cocked his head, staring down at the aged, wrinkled map labeled "South Seas".

"I've heard of this place before," he said.

Rose nodded her head. "I see it sometimes when I'm sleeping," she continued. Then, she scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Well, when I can actually get any kind of sleep in anyway."

O

The next person to be interrogated was Jonas Burton, one of Rose's friends and coworkers.

He was wearing dirty gray overalls, had a pair of muddy work boots on and gloves; he had messy, short brown hair and a strangely well-shaven face. He was wearing a hat on his head and had a white t-shirt covered in stains. Despite being somewhat muscular, he also had a small pot belly.

Jonas grinned when he had the chance to meet Chris. "Hey! I know you! You're that guy who set fire to that other guy in that volcano!"

Chris chuckled with mild embarrassment and nodded. "Let's focus on more important things right now," he advised, "I want to know everything you know about the terrorist activities going on in the world, most importantly, in your city. Even if it's something small, it would really be of great help us."

Jonas arched his brows and leaned forward. "I live in Kentwood. Know what that means?" he told him, "I'm bored as hell half the goddamn time. I'm nobody's enemy here. Well, except maybe the grease traps in my workshop, but that's about it." He leaned back with a sigh. "I don't know anybody here in this city who could pass for any kind of terrorist. Never met one, never want to meet one. So sorry about that, but I can't help you there."

Chris looked down at Jonas' file. "You work in New Genesis as the maintenance man," he read, "And you've known Rose most of your life. Do you know about anything that might seem strange about her at all?"

Jonas shrugged his shoulders. "Not really, no. She can be a bit hotheaded and antisocial on her off days, but that's about it," he said. He paused and tilted his head thoughtfully. "Except that guy who snuffed out her old man. He worked for Umbrella as far as I know. Never saw him after that."

Chris frowned with interest. "Really?"

O

The next person to be interrogated was Kirk Matthews, another fellow coworker of New Genesis and a computer genius at that.

Kirk was built slightly beneath his somewhat baggy checkered shirt and white t-shirt as well as tan cargo pants. He had narrow cheekbones, somewhat broad shoulders and short, slightly curly brown hair with a scar beneath his bangs. He also looked mildly annoyed with Chris.

"'Kirk Matthews; Bioinformatics Software Engineer'," Chris read in his file, "That's quite an interesting profession. I'm sure a guy like you would have insight on what goes in and out of the company that you work for."

Kirk shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose." he said. Then, he frowned impatiently and inclined his head forward. "What do you want?"

"The same thing that you do; answers," Chris told him, with a reassuring smile, "We can help each other out if you tell me anything you might know regarding any trade or business affiliation that New Genesis had with Umbrella."

Kirk squinted. "Well, I know that chief was in tight with Umbrella before he founded the company," he said, "Jittery guy; especially when folks would ask him too many questions-So what does this have to do with Rose?" He leaned forward and put a finger in Chris' face. "I couldn't care less what your deal is with the rest of us, but Rose isn't about to be dragged into it. She's been through too much as it is already."

Chris didn't seem very impressed with the belligerence. "Tell me about it, then," he said. "If there's nothing to hide, you wouldn't have a problem with sharing."

Finally, the last person to be interviewed was Beth Underwood, another fellow coworker of New Genesis and according to her, was Rose's closest friend since childhood.

She sat maybe an inch shorter than Rose and had a firm, muscular body shape which appeared to be the result of constant physical workouts, exercise and jogging. She has long hair that was pinned up in a bun and was wearing two earrings that had little diamonds in the middle. She wore a white button shirt under a black vest and a pair of black dress pants.

"I'm not up for these mind games, Redfield," Beth said, angrily, "You drag my ass in here and expect me to comply; considering how I've been treated, I would think that would be the LAST thing you'd expect out of me."

Chris sighed impatiently and stood up, slapping the folder onto the table. "I think we're done."

Beth stood up with him. "Good, because I'm done dealing with this."

Chris gave her a dirty look now. "Listen carefully; we can do this for as long as we need to," he told her.

"What does that mean?"

O

Much later, Rose and her friends were sitting inside holding cells, angrily pacing around. Jonas was the only one who seemed completely calm; he was lying on his back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and whistling a happy tune.

"I don't believe this," Rose growled, "I don't freaking believe this!"

Jonas smiled at them. "Come on, guys," he told them, "It could be worse."

Kirk scowled at him. "Shut up, Jonas!"

Jonas glared back. "Why don't you kiss my grits?" he shot back.

The two were in cells beside one another and Kirk made a dash to grab at Jonas, but the other man merely stepped back in his cell, smirking. The bars prevented Kirk from grabbing him and he gave a frustrated curse and slumped back into his bed. Rose looked at the two with a disapproving frown before she turned her attention to Beth across from her.

"What do you think they're here for anyway?" she asked.

Beth shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe they're investigating the pharmaceutical companies that had been affiliated with Umbrella in the past."

"Checking to see if there might be repeats?" Jonas questioned.

"Probably."

Kirk sighed impatiently. "It doesn't make sense though," he said, "We've never dealt in the t-virus or anything like that before!"

Rose shook her head. "The SCU was keeping a lot of stuff out of our reach, remember?" she pointed out, "They had quarantined Lydia River and Fisherman's Wharf and prevented us from doing any digging there."

"The SCU are assholes." Jonas muttered.

Beth glanced at him briefly before she looked at Rose, concerned. "Do you think they were hiding something?"

"I don't know. But like my father used to say, 'if they had nothing to fear, they would have had nothing to hide'." Rose pointed out.

Kirk licked his lips thoughtfully. "We can sleep on it and figure something out in the morning," he told them, "Right now, let's try and rest."

Jonas nodded and stretched, getting comfortable in his bed. "Finally, something we agree on..."

Beth gave Rose a concerned smile. "Maybe you should try and get some sleep, Rose." she suggested.

Rose didn't seem very convinced that she could, but nonetheless, she climbed into her bed and attempted to find a comfortable position. She tossed and turned a few times before giving a long-suffering sigh and staring up at the ceiling. She closed her eyes after a long moment and finally, she eventually went to sleep.

O

Rose awoke after what felt like mere minutes and looked around her cell.

Beth, Kirk and Jonas were gone.

In fact, the entire cell block itself appeared to be empty. Cell doors were open and there were beds tossed everywhere. Bars appeared to have been bent in a way that couldn't have been possible for a human being to accomplish. In front of Rose's cell, a bed had been tossed into the door and she was trapped. She approached it and attempted to push the heavy metal from her door. It didn't budge. Frustrated, she pressed herself against the floor and attempted to push it off with her legs.

The bed began to give slightly and she sucked her teeth with effort, pushing as hard as she could.

"Goddammit!" she grunted.

After a moment of struggle with the heavy object, she managed to push it back a bit. Rose scrambled to her feet and attempted to open the cell door. Much to her relief, it was open after a few struggles. She slowly stepped out and looked around cautiously.

Something had changed in the air; there was an unsettling feeling that passed through her.

Something was wrong.

Rose slowly made her way to the door that lead into the offices and peered through the window. Much to her shock, she could see that the office was a mess; papers were thrown everywhere, chairs flipped over, bulletin boards knocked down. A few monitors had been smashed and there were streaks of blood across the floor. Rose swallowed slightly and started to open the door, but suddenly, a man's broken, bloody face contacted the window.

"Help me!" he screamed, "Help me, please!"

Rose's eyes widened in horror and suddenly, he was yanked-sucked away to the left with a scream. She stood there, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest. After a moment of hesitation, she stepped out into the office and looked down the path that he had disappeared; an uninviting dark hallway where broken light fixtures were hanging from their wires, occasionally crackling. The lights flickered in and out every so often.

Even more, dead bodies were lying sprawled across the floor. The bodies of officers and office workers broken, covered in what looked like claw marks and bites lying in pools of their own blood. Rose could also see empty ammunition casings scattered everywhere.

"Holy shit..." she whispered.

She looked over at the desk where a man was lying face down. In his hand, he was clutching a handgun and Rose could see that he was bleeding from multiple wounds across his back, possibly slashes. She slowly and carefully reached for it. When it was nearly out of the man's grip, he suddenly sat up with a low, moaning snarl. Rose gasped in horror and staggered back as the man straightened with robotic grace, moving toward her from around the desk.

"Shit, stay back!" she shouted, leveling the gun at him, "I said, stay the fuck back!"

The man snarled, his bloodshot, lifeless eyes locked on her. His mouth was cracked and drooling and his hands were reaching out. Rose pulled back the hammer of the handgun and aimed for the spot between his eyes. The man gave a snarling hiss of rebuke and surged for her with uncanny speed.

Finally, Rose squeezed the trigger and he crumbled to the floor. His forehead was gushing from the bullet hole in his head and he wasn't moving now. She stared down at his lifeless body for a few stunned moments before turning and rushing down the halls to find her friends.

_This isn't right. They move like the undead from Raccoon City, but faster. This can't be how it happened..._

"Beth!" she called, glancing occasionally through open doors of offices, "Kirk! Jonas! Where the hell are you guys?"

She turned the corner, only to skid to a haphazard halt with a yelp of fright.

There was a huge crowd of zombies blocking the next hallway. When they saw her, they slowly turned, hissing and slobbering. Rose immediately backpedaled and ran, the zombies howling after her. They moved fast, not slow and shambling. She quickly rushed for the emergency fire escape stairs and slammed the door behind her. Bodies crashed against it and sounds of fury and hunger echoed throughout the silent stairs.

"Shit!" Rose chanted, "Shit, shit, shit!"

_What the hell is going on here?_

She immediately hurried down to the garage to find her truck. And then, she received another surprise.

"Rose?"

The frightened woman whirled, coming in contact with Beth, Kirk and Jonas and nearly bumping them over. Much to her disgust, Chris was also among them. They were stepping out of a security office and Beth immediately threw her arms around her.

"Why the hell did you guys leave me back there?" Rose demanded.

Jonas shook his head and gestured to Chris. "We had to find this guy to help us," he told her, "So I pushed the bed against your door to keep those things from getting in at you."

Rose gave him a half-hearted look before she scowled at Chris. "What about you? What can you tell us?" she asked.

Chris turned and picked up a shotgun, tossing it to Rose. She caught it with one hand. "Someone set the virus into the station," he told her, "I saw a man running away moments before I noticed that people were starting to act strange. Turns out they've been bringing in sick people a lot earlier than we thought."

Rose frowned. "What?"

Chris looked at Beth. "Do you know where they keep the records of the tests done in the waters?"

"Yeah. SCU keeps them on file in the laboratories." she replied.

Chris nodded his head and slowly made his way toward the door that Rose had come out of. "We need to find those files and see what we're dealing with," he said, "Once we do, we can contact BSAA headquarters and inform them about the situation. Then, we can make our way out of here."

"What happens then?" Kirk asked.

Chris sighed and shut his eyes momentarily. "We need to get moving," he said, "Let's hope it doesn't come to another city wiped off the map."

O

The group made their way back into the station avoiding the undead as much as possible. When confronted by one, they had to resort to shooting them down which easily alerted more to their location. Eventually, they managed to find their way to the laboratories where they began a search for the test papers. Rose dug through filing cabinets and Jonas searched the refrigerator and checked each sample listed.

"Hey guys, check this out!" he said.

They turned and approached as he held up a vial.

"This one's got no label on it. And it's fresh. Check out the date." he said, holding the vial up, "June 13th, 2014. 5:33 PM."

Rose knotted her brow. "That was taken yesterday while we were here."

Chris looked at Jonas before moving to the fridge. "Are there any samples that might have leaked?" he asked.

"Doesn't look like it." Jonas said, turning the sample in his hands for study.

Rose paged through a few documents scattered across the table. "Hey, I think I got something here," she told them, "It says they retrieved the sample in Lydia River and tested abnormalities in the water. The river was shut down to public access and-" She cut herself off and her frown intensified. "These results are completely off the charts. I've never seen a viral pathogen with such a complex structure like this one."

Chris looked up, alarmed. "Viral structure?"

Rose held out the papers to him. "It says here they tested and discovered traces of contamination in the water supplies," she said, "They came to the conclusion that the water carried a biological viral strain."

Beth shook her head, worried. "That wouldn't have been enough to contaminate the entire city, would it?"

"Not unless someone deliberately placed the t-virus through Newark City's water supply," Chris said, taking a moment to observe the papers, "In Raccoon, we concluded that the virus was spread through the sewer system. It wouldn't take long for it to reach the majority of the city's populace and infect them." He reacted slightly to their horrified looks before staring back down at the papers. "It's not the C-virus. I can't make sense of what this is exactly, but I've seen the formula for the C-virus before. This doesn't look like it."

"If it's not the C-virus, it's a damn good copy of it," Jonas snapped, walking toward the window.

"Wait, C-virus?" Kirk questioned, looking at Chris, "What is that?"

Chris looked up at him. "It's not my place to explain right now."

"Well, make it your place." Beth argued.

While the others started talking with one another about the virus in question, Jonas peered through the blinds and squinted down to the garage. Something moved just outside of his vision; it was enormous and appeared to be fleshy in appearance. Jonas' eyes widened and he swallowed a gasp, whirling to look at the others. Chris was just starting to radio the BSAA headquarters when he caught Jonas' terrified look. He frowned, equally concerned.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just saw something huge moving around in the garage!" Jonas whispered, his voice low with terror.

Beth's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

They moved to the window to get a look and Jonas pointed where he saw it. But there was nothing out there.

"I don't see anything," Kirk said.

Jonas groaned and looked at them, making gestures as he spoke. "Guys, I'm serious!" he insisted, knowing for a fact that they didn't believe him, "It was HUGE! It had these nasty sores all over its body and..."

"Your eyes are probably messing with you," Beth said, reassuringly.

"You're seeing things, man," Kirk muttered, "Don't go nuts more than usual. Not now."

Jonas growled angrily. "Don't you start with me, Kirk!" he threatened, pointing a finger at him, "Now is not the time for your mouth!"

Beth glared back at them. "Jonas, Kirk; if you two don't shut up, I'm gonna tie both your asses to a damn post and let them take turns jumping at you." she snapped, "Now we need to phone BSAA to get us out of here."

Chris nodded his head and tapped his COM-link. "Chris Redfield to headquarters, do you copy?" He tried again when he received no response. "Chris Redfield here, do you copy?" He uttered an annoyed curse. "Dammit. Sounds like my signal's being jammed by an outside source. I can't get word out to HQ." He looked deeply troubled now, and somewhat angry. "Someone's clearly behind all of this and they don't want us contacting anyone."

"What do we do now?" Beth asked, worried now.

Chris looked determined. "We find the one responsible," he said, "The jamming signal sounds pretty strong, so he has to be nearby. When we find the guy, we'll make him talk."

"We get back to the garage and take my truck," Rose suggested.

"Good idea." Beth told her.

Jonas held up two hands as they started to go. "Guys! That thing's moving around down there!"

Kirk sighed impatiently. "Jonas, there's nothing down there," he snapped. "The doors are locked up and we didn't see anything on the way down. Don't you think we would have seen something big with bad acne on the way?"

Jonas looked somewhat calmer. He seemed to reconsider what he saw as just a figment of his mind. "I guess..." he muttered. He started following them as they raced out of the laboratory. "Still, I don't like it."

O

They made their way through the station back toward the garage. On the way, Rose suddenly stopped and raised her hand, gesturing for them to be quiet. Chris looked at her questionably and she gestured with a finger to her lips.

"What's wrong?" Kirk asked.

"Sounds like...somebody crying..." Rose whispered, cocking her ear northbound to hear. "Do you hear that?"

The others strained to hear, but they couldn't hear anything.

"I don't hear anything," Beth whispered back.

Rose shook it away and shrugged her shoulders. "Huh... Maybe it's just me."

Jonas grunted and shook his head. "We need to move our asses, Rose. Whatever you're hearing, don't worry about it," he told her, "Because if I never see a drooling, pasty-faced dead guy again, I'll die a happy man."

They continued forward, despite the doubtful look on Rose's face.

The group made their way back into the garage and Rose fished through her pockets, approaching the red and black pickup truck parked a little bit away. "I'm glad those assholes didn't have the thought to take away my keys," she said, "Otherwise we'd be in trouble."

Chris made a face at the condition of the truck. "This will get us out?"

Rose smirked skeptically at his tone. "You making fun of my truck, Redfield?" she asked, "Because this bad boy has saved my sweet ass on the road more times than you know."

She brought the key to the keyhole, but froze.

A soft, rumbling noise filled the air that caused their heads to slowly turn toward the dented metal of the garage. The rumbling transformed into a threatening, deep growling noise that sounded like a furious animal.

"What is that?" Beth whispered.

Then, the door rocked violently as something heavy was thrown into it. The group stepped back as the metal began to buckle against the continuous slams against the door.

Finally, the door snapped completely off and the group ducked behind Rose's truck to avoid being decapitated by the flying metal. They peered over and much to their shock and horror, an enormous, hulking shape staggered into the garage.

It was covered in sickly, pink-purple flesh and was bowed forward in a painful manner. A wriggling, disgusting eye moved wildly around on its shoulder, seemingly scanning the entire area. It had long, ape-like arms ending in equally long, dangerous claws. The creature's back was also covered in jagged spines and oozing wounds. Its head was the worst part; it looked like it had been crushed in a vice and one half of its face appeared to have attempted to mutate into something reptilian in appearance where the other resembled a human skull. It also had scraps of a white coat dangling from its arms.

"Oh shit..." Jonas whispered, shaking his head with a moan of despair, "We're gonna die. That's it. We're gonna die!"

Rose squinted and noticed something still attached to the coat of the creature; an ID tag that read FRANK HEAD.

"Oh my God," she said, "Guys...?"

"Yeah?" Kirk whispered, cautiously.

"I think that might be Frank!"

The only one who didn't react to the news was Chris as he didn't know who the man was. Instead, Jonas whispered with fright. "Rose, I am pretty sure that thing's pissed as hell. Can we go somewhere else where it won't cause bodily harm to us?"

Suddenly, the eye on the creature's shoulder seemed to look straight at them.

Rose groaned. "A little late for that now!" she told him.

The creature gave a furious bellow and charged for them.

"Shit!" Chris hissed.

The creature slammed into several vehicles, sending them flipping. Chris rolled and avoided the swinging claws before aiming his handgun at it, taking shots. Bullets ripped through its fleshy body, drawing metallic shrieks from its mouth. It whirled on Chris and slashed out with its claws. Chris avoided the attack by rolling to the side. But when he did, the creature's tail slammed into him, sending him flying through the air. He landed hard on the hood of a car.

Rose aimed her shotgun and squeezed out a round. It shredded the back of the creature's and seemed to become more enraged by the blast from her weapon than Chris'. It turned and gave a bellowing roar, swinging for her.

"We have to get out of here!" Beth shouted, moving for Rose's truck. "We can't take this thing!"

Chris jumped into the back of the truck and the others quickly followed suit. Rose was the last as she ran for the truck and into the driver's seat. The creature snarled with fury and started lumbering forward for them.

"Rose, start the truck!" Kirk screeched. "Hurry!"

Rose glared back at him angrily. "Shut up!"

She started the truck and gunned the engine immediately. The truck blasted forward and slammed into the creature, sending it staggering to the side with a howl. Rose backed up the truck again before pulling out of the garage. The creature charged in pursuit and the others watched in horror.

"Faster, Rose!" Beth cried, "Make it go faster!"

"I can't!" Rose shouted.

Finally, after a few long moments of pursuing them down the road, the creature eventually gave up and stopped, snarling furiously in defeat. It disappeared down another street and everyone sighed, relaxing temporarily.

"Christ..." Kirk whispered.

They continued down the street, passing crowds of undead, burning buildings and flipped vehicles. They looked around in shock at the scene, witnessing their once-proud city fallen to the virus as Raccoon City had.

"What do we do now?" Rose asked.

Beth sighed. "We keep going..."


	2. Part Two

~O~

**Part Two**

Leon wasn't happy with what he had learned.

Traveling to the Canadian Borders for a terrorist threat was not entirely his idea of a mission, especially after what he had to deal with in China a year ago; what made it worse was the fact that he ended up coming with nothing to show for since the threat ended up being a hoax. Hunnigan contacted him later as he made his way toward a government helicopter waiting for him in front of the Canadian Embassy. It whirled to life and he climbed inside moments before it took to the skies.

"I don't think anyone takes their lives seriously anymore," Leon said, disgusted, "This world's going to hell."

Hunnigan chuckled softly. _"It's a part of life, Leon,"_ she told him through the COM-link, _"You just get back up when you fall. The situation with Derek Simmons' involvement with the terrorist group Neo Umbrella is still being investigated. So your files are being looked at now."_

Leon scoffed. "Right. Well, I didn't fall here," he snapped, "I didn't even get anywhere."

_"Well, you may want to prepare for this one,"_ Hunnigan told him, _"The BSAA's been on the hunt for the children who had been taken by Umbrella. They've been seeking out the remaining Umbrella parties. The president's shown great interest in these children."_

Leon's brow knotted. "The Wesker Files?"

_"Exactly. The president sent you his orders,"_ Hunnigan continued, _"You should receive it shortly."_

Leon picked up his hand held and stared down at the screen. It displayed an image of the White House's symbol as well as text scrolling down in front of it. It reminded him briefly of his failure to protect the president, Adam Benford in Tall Oaks. It was a painful memory and now the Vice President had taken over in his stead during the chaos of global infection.

He furrowed his brow at the message, reading it quickly before chuckling softly.

"The Wesker Children..." he said, "How can we be sure that they're alive?"

_"With what little information remains, unfortunately,"_ Hunnigan explained, ruefully, _"There is one Umbrella Executive who has yet to come to the surface. He goes by the name Alex and he's been quite skilled at dodging authorities for a long time."_ She paused and Leon could suspect that she was digging through computer information. _"The BSAA wishes to locate them to receive information and take them into custody; the government fears a new potential threat to the world based on what we've learned about Alex. They want you to do whatever you need to to make sure these Wesker children pose no future problems for us."_

Leon nodded his head gravely. He seemed to understand. "Okay, what do you have for me then?"

_"There is a man living in an Oklahoma town called Quinton,"_ Hunnigan told him, _"According to the little information we have of him, he is a former Soviet Lieutenant Colonel who goes by the name Ivan Demidov. He owns a junkyard in the town which should be easy to spot. Apparently he's been deemed by the rest of the town as 'abnormal'. The list that we have from the Spencer Estate has Ivan on the list of children from the original tests. Not the thirteen listed as 'successful'. I'm guessing that Spencer must not have been satisfied with how his original prototypes panned out."_

Leon nodded his head. "Soviets, huh?" he said, "This guy would probably be pretty old by now."

_"Maybe. But you saw Albert Wesker after his infection. These guys don't age."_

Leon didn't seem as awed by the thought as Hunnigan. "Whatever he is, I'll do what's necessary."

_"I know you will,"_ Hunnigan replied, her voice much more quiet now, _"But be warned; Terra Save will be nearby. They've had their own share of problems regarding a toxic cleanup in a neighboring town. So be ready for questions."_

Leon arched his brows. "Hunnigan, you didn't tell me that just to warn me."

_"Uh...not exactly. Claire will probably be there."_

Leon took a deep sigh. Instead of the Wesker bastard child, he would have to deal with an angry Redfield. "Great..."

O

Despite his protests, Leon was dropped off in the neighboring town of Melbourne where Terra Save was giving aid to those suffering from the toxic spill in the river. And even though he made an attempt to avoid them, he spotted Claire beside a jeep, working on passing out soup and water.

"Claire, long time no see," Leon said, smiling half-heartedly.

Claire arched her brows with an irritated look. "Leon." she acknowledged, in a bit of a biting tone.

Leon sighed and let his hands fall at his sides. "Claire, is that the kind of greeting I get?"

"I don't know," Claire said, with contempt, "What kind of greeting did you expect, exactly? Red carpet and champagne?"

Leon waited until she was completely finished with passing out the food to those who needed it before hopping down from the truck to look at him completely. Her eyes were hard, albeit a bit disappointed as they locked on him. "Chris needed you there and you weren't," she said, much softer this time, "You had promised me that you were going to be there at the court for him and he walked out looking like some kind of an idiot."

Leon shook his head. "I had no choice!" he insisted, "They had me stationed in India, I had to take it."

Claire huffed in frustration. "Chris tried everything in his power to tell them what happened in Kijuju and assure them that she was no threat," she snapped, "But no one believed him. NO ONE." She threw her arms in the air with a gruff scoffing sound. "Let's not forget what happened to Jill out of all that!"

Leon looked worried. "What happened to Jill?"

"They've been testing on her for years, trying to understand what Wesker did to her," Claire said, her accusing voice now low with pain, "Chris was trying everything to get her out of that. He's STILL trying to get her out of it!"

"There's something else," Leon interrupted, "Something that's come up..."

Claire gave an exasperated sigh. "What?"

"I just received word that there's supposed to be a 'Wesker' prototype living in Quinton," Leon explained, "I was heading there until they sent me here."

Claire nodded her head. "Then I'm going with you."

Leon shook his head and his demeanor changed completely. "No. It might be dangerous and you're needed here."

Claire gestured around her. "Whatever caused this toxic spill could be the Wesker bastard you're after," she pointed out, "I want to find the one responsible just like you do." Her voice lowered and grew graver this time. She stared at Leon with an equally serious look. "I'm not going to sit around and do nothing." She leaned forward and her eyes hardened now. "I think you owe that much to me; I need to know what's going on."

Leon gave her a long-suffering look before he sighed and turned. "Let's take your jeep."

Much later, Leon and Claire drove down the darkened street that night and slowly pulled into the small, humble town of Quinton. The streets were barely active and a few people acknowledged the arrivals with brief looks. Some appeared to be elderly with little interest in what was arriving at their town. A few were children who stopped long enough to look with unease and suspicion. Claire caught this and arched her brows.

"Huh. You'll find more cheer at the Saint Valentines Day Massacre." she remarked.

Leon's eyes narrowed. "We'll find him and see what he knows," he said, "More or less why these people are so happy to see us."

They pulled up to one of the elderly women in the street and Leon rolled down his window.

"Excuse me," Leon said, "We're looking for a man named Ivan Demidov. Perhaps you know him?"

The old woman sighed and nodded, pointing down the street to her left. "Yes. The Demidov's live in a junkyard estate on Levin Street. You can't miss it. It's the only junkyard in town."

Leon smiled. "Thank you."

"We appreciate the help." Claire added.

The old woman leaned forward and gave them a warning look. "They don't like company," she muttered, "Not since his wife was shot years ago. He's got friends who'll cut off your finger before they look at ya' twice. But whatever you do, is your own business."

Leon smiled and Claire nodded painfully. "Thanks, we'll keep that in mind."

The woman staggered away and waved a hand in the air. "Ahh, your funeral..."

Leon chuckled sourly. "I guess we know what to expect then, don't we?" he said, looking at Claire and pulling out a handgun.

O

It was madness.

Leon and Claire ran through the junkyard, pursued by fierce, angry dobermans. Leon shoved down a pile of garbage behind him to attempt to slow them from their chase. Two of the dogs collided with the pile while three more jumped over with ease.

"This isn't working!" Claire shouted. "We have to-"

She never finished because she tripped over a thin white wire beneath her, sending them both of them tumbling into a thick fish net. It sprung up from a post, shooting them high into the air. The dogs snapped and rushed at them to try and inflict a bite. Leon and Claire struggled inside the net, groaning and shifting about in an effort to keep the dogs from landing any bites on them.

"Dammit!" Claire cried. "We're screwed!"

Suddenly, there was a sound of a whistle and the dogs immediately calmed with soft whimpering sounds. Leon and Claire watched in shock as they walked over toward several men making their way toward their catch. One of them uttered a Russian command and the dogs moved aside.

At first glance, these men looked like they could have been nothing more than common street thugs looking for trouble. They were dressed in clothing that was obviously not theirs as easily noticeable by the mismatched and out-of-order of them. Their faces were haggard, some unshaven and their eyes appeared to be as cold as stone. They would kill them here and now if they wanted to; that was certain by the dangerous glares on their faces.

"Leon? Any ideas?" Claire whispered.

"Working on it..." Leon whispered back.

One of the men was smoking a cigarette. He stepped forward and tilted his head at the people trapped in the net. He was wearing a thick brown duster jacket with rounds of bullets around his chest and tattered camouflage pants. He stood tall with dark green eyes, black hair and a rugged, bearded scowl on his face constantly as he regarded them. A smirk touched his lips and it appeared to be one of intense loathing.

"What have we here?" he hissed, in a thick, Russian accent, "Two little rodents poking their nose into other people's business?" He jabbed Leon in the ribs through the net with a particularly rough stab of his finger.

Leon smiled calmly. "I can see you guys brought out the red carpet for us," he said, "I feel special."

The man leaned forward and grabbed the net, bringing Leon close to his furious face. He brought a huge bowie knife from his belt. "I would cut off your legs, little man," he sneered, "If they were long enough to stand you taller from the ground!"

"Andrei, hold on..." another man said, in a deep, aged voice.

The man who had spoken stepped out from the crowd. He was maybe in his mid 50's and had coarse grey hair and a thin beard. The left side of his face was covered in mild burn scarring and his eye where he appeared to be slightly blinded. Wicked scarring there suggested fire or a gunshot wound. He was wearing thick chest armor and a brown jacket over that with fur around the neck collar; he was also wearing a military beret. His boots had spikes on the heels and on the tips of his toes. He also wore black gloves.

"Mikhail, these fools were sneaking in here with guns," Andrei snapped, gesturing to Leon, "They might be from Umbrella!"

Claire and Leon visibly reacted.

"Wait, Umbrella?" Leon said, "You guys are hiding from Umbrella?"

Andrei leveled a finger at him. "Don't play dumb with me, little bitch!" he threatened, "We know you came to finish off Ivan!"

The one called Mikhail looked warningly at Andrei. "Easy, comrade," he said, also with a thick accent, "Let's let Ivan decide their fate. He specifically orders no killing of women. Since she is with him, he will live for now." He gestured with a wave of one hand. "Cut them down."

Another man stepped forward, hissing venomously. "I'd cut them up..."

He had slicked black hair with gray streaks in them as well as his left ear missing. He had icy light blue eyes and rough, chiseled features that seemed to have been carved out of granite. He was wearing a black leather jacket, jeans and a hat with a red bandana over his left arm.

"Viktor. Shut up and do as I say," Mikhail snapped, with boredom.

The man-Viktor snarled and walked over, reaching up with his knife. He cut the net with a swift jerk and the two fell onto the ground. Immediately, they rose to their feet. When they did, they tensed at the sounds of weapons clicking and looked into the faces of several gleaming handgun barrels. Leon and Claire slowly raised their hands and studied each and every face of several men who circled them menacingly.

"Who are you really?" another of them asked. "What are you doing here?"

"You look suspicious…" another man sneered, squinting at the two. "Are you looking for trouble?"

"We could ask you that!" Claire snapped.

She glanced at Leon and he nodded once before looking at the man who had spoken with a little civility-Mikhail. "We're here because there was suspicious activity reported in this area. We are tracking Ivan Demidov because the government is interested in him."

Mikhail's eyes went up and he scoffed. "Is that right?" He looked over his shoulder. "Ivan! You have someone here to see you!"

Claire and Leon both looked cautious and concerned.

Suddenly, a large shadow appeared from around the large piles of garbage. It was a man standing at least almost 8 feet tall. He was enormous by normal standards and wore a thick, black leather coat. His hair was matted and white, but he didn't look a day over 30. Once he stepped closer to inspect the two figures, his eyes were much more apparent. One was an ominous shade of yellow and dilated like that of a feline while the other was a normal human shade of blue.

"Oh God..." Claire whispered, stunned, "He's huge!"

The man-Ivan smiled and licked his lips thoughtfully. He sucked his teeth before speaking. His voice was also thickly Russian in accent.

"Another little man comes to my house of pain?" he sneered, exposing one abnormally long canine tooth.

Leon studied the man curiously before he spoke, cautiously reaching behind him to remove a smaller hand knife from his belt should he be attacked by him. "Leon S. Kennedy. This is Claire Redfield." He studied Ivan up and down briefly before smiling faintly with a hint of sarcasm. "You must be Ivan..."

The man leaned his head back, as if Leon has been utterly rude before he spoke. "Ivan. Ivan Demidov. And when last I looked, you...are trespassing." He glared at Leon's closed palm and chuckled sourly. "Do not insult me by hiding some weapon like a little street boy." He spoke his next words hard, as if to a child. "Drop it."

Leon smiled and shrugged his shoulders calmly at that, opening his palm and dropping a small hand-blade from his hand. It clattered to the ground and one of the men stooped down to quickly snatch it from its spot.

"Bastard..." the man sneered, in a cruel whisper.

Claire attempted to salvage the situation to perhaps get him to talk and help them instead of resorting to violence. "We're sorry Ivan," she told him. "But we're working for the United States Government to try and solve this problem. We didn't mean to come off like we were going to kill you, but I guess we got the wrong idea and..."

"You assumed that because of my appearance and history, I would be the enemy?" Ivan suggested, arching his brows.

Claire shrugged her shoulders. "As a Wesker prototype, can you blame me?"

Ivan suddenly let loose a deep and thunderous laugh; one in which the other around him joined in on. Claire didn't budge, but a tightening of her lips revealed her losing patience.

"The government?" Ivan sneered. "What will those poor little frightened old men want with me?" He pretended to think before smiling mockingly, "Let me guess; they thought I was a big scary terrorist and you were sent to put me down!"

Leon's eyes narrowed. "This happened before, I imagine."

Ivan smirked at him before he gestured to his men with a small wave of his hand. "Why don't we take them back to the house?" he said, "This way, we can talk about it over dinner."

Before Leon and Claire could argue, they were yanked to their feet and forced to march forward by two taller men. As they were dragged through the junkyard, they carefully observed everything around them. There were more armed men in coats watching them menacingly over top of rubbish piles and small wrecked vehicles. They appeared to have been waiting for something to come to them or knew that they were coming.

"Stay calm..." Leon whispered to Claire. "We'll figure out how to get out of this soon."

"Right..." Claire muttered, sarcastically, "What are you going to do? Wave your gun around and yell 'stay where you are'? I don't remember that working well the previous 40 times you've done it in the past!"

"Just relax," Leon whispered, annoyed by her words, "I can handle it."

O

Ivan took a spot at a large, wooden table and the rest of his men hurriedly brought plates of food out for him. Two plates were hurtled across the table for Claire and Leon. They glanced down uneasily at what looked to be some form of meat. It was horrid looking and tinted with bits of green flakes. There was also a side of potatoes there that looked very chunky. Clearly there was no one here who could cook.

Ivan studied them curiously and furrowed his brow at the lack of responses. "Go on then, eat," he ordered, gesturing with his fork. "You are my guests! I insist."

Leon smiled and waved two hands. "We really can't stay-"

Ivan leered at him sternly. "Eat."

Before Claire and Leon could protest, two heavy-and strong-sets of hands pushed them roughly into their chairs with sharp grunts to follow. They stared cautiously at each other and their eyes wandered around the dining room. The windows were boarded up and candles were lit in various lanterns, holders, and other places. Several animal skulls and barbed hooks dangled from the ceiling. Leon gave her a nod, indicating that she should say something.

Claire acknowledged and smiled weakly to Ivan. "It's quite a lovely home you have," she told him.

Ivan scooped up some potatoes onto a fork and didn't look up at her. "Thank you. It belonged to my wife."

Claire looked up and noticed a picture on a counter of a woman smiling beside Ivan. It was an aged photo and they looked to be dressed in military uniform, embracing one another. Ivan was donned in what appeared to be the uniform for the Soviet Army.

"Is this her?" Claire asked.

Ivan's eyes lifted somewhat and she saw a look change. A warmth that seemed to linger.

"Yes, that's Mary." he said, quietly.

"She's beautiful," Claire told him, smiling.

"Thank you..."

Claire looked up at the watchers suspiciously staring at her, wondering what she was up to. Claire's eyes wandered to various medals and distinguished awards hanging in a case on the wall. She noticed one as a "Gold Star" medal that was usually awarded to heroes of the Soviet Union, the highest honorary title that could be given to both civilians and soldiers for accomplishments in promoting peace, promoting socialism, protecting the motherland, or a heroic act to help others.

There was another; a medal "For Courage". It was the highest military medal that could be awarded to a soldier for bravery on the field of battle. The tank pictured on it was a T-35 and the planes bore strong resemblance to Polikarpovs. It was awarded for "acts of bravery during a battle, during the defense of the state borders or during military duties associated with risk to life."

Those were a few that Claire recognized among the many. Clearly Ivan was a soldier of impeccable service. She clasped her hands together and looked at Ivan again and decided to try and ease the tension in the room.

"So, army guy, huh?" she asked.

Ivan briefly glanced up from his food and waited until he finished with his bite before talking. "Yes. Former Lieutenant Colonel of USSR military." He gestured briefly to Mikhail. "My subordinate and close friend, Mikhail Bardzecki. Also former 2nd Lieutenant."

Mikhail made a gruff snort in reply.

Ivan smiled slightly. "Mikhail, it's not polite to snort at a woman."

Leon was getting impatient with the small talk. "Nice to see that you're not only a Commie, but a Wesker prototype," he said, "Now can we get down to business?"

Claire gave him a warning look. "Leon...easy..." she warned.

Ivan paused in his chewing and calmly placed his fork down before wiping his mouth with his napkin. "It's quite refreshing to know that we have an ignorant president lap dog among us." he said, his voice growing hard now, "I have served the Motherland since I was 13 years old." His voice rose furiously. "I WAS 13!" It lowered again with cold bitterness. "I have seen horrible things and have killed men on the battlefield. My enemies had much more of an open mind than you do, it seems."

Leon held up his hands and they clenched into fists. "There is no right or wrong here. Your kind pose too much of a threat in this world. You know it and I know it," he snapped. "Whether you believe that or not is not up for debate. I have my orders."

Ivan suddenly laughed and leaned back in his chair. "'My kind'?" he repeated. "Are you referring to my experiment history or my serving of the USSR, because clearly, I want to know which one to kill you for."

Claire stood up and held out her hands gently. "Guys, relax!" she insisted, "Now we need to get our heads together before we kill each other." She looked at Ivan. "You know things that we don't know. Things that could help us. Things regarding Alex Wesker."

Ivan shrugged his shoulders. "I may..."

"And?" Claire inquired.

"I may not want to help you."

Claire looked stunned. "Why? This involves all of us!"

Mikhail growled lowly, displeased, "This has nothing to do with us..."

"I just want to be left alone. Left out of this mess that man had started," Ivan told her, and his eyes truly expressed his sadness, "I'm sorry, Miss Redfield. But there's so little I have left that I cannot afford to lose."

"Like what?" Claire asked.

Ivan leaned back and waved to Mikhail with a deadpanned expression on his face. "Mikhail...find my son..." he ordered, before giving Leon a sarcastic smirk. "Let us see if this one knows everything as he claims."

Claire and Leon watched Mikhail move silently across the room, disappearing up the stairs. Ivan looked up at the rest of his men and waved with a small smile.

"Well? Don't be rude, boys," he told them, "Introduce yourselves."

Andrei scowled with disdain and nodded to Claire. "Andrei Ortoff," he snapped, "Sharpshooter. They call me Mad Andrei."

Leon whispered at the side of his mouth. "I can't imagine why..."

Viktor nodded his head. "I am Viktor Loginov. Senior Sergeant and Chemicals Expert. They call me Butcher."

Claire smiled at him. "Nice to meet you, Viktor."

He furrowed his brow, confused by the nice gesture. "Likewise, I suppose..."

Claire and Leon looked at the next man. He had short brown hair tied in a small tail and bright blue eyes. He also had a thin, white scar across his lips. He was wearing a black turtleneck shirt beneath a grey jacket and tan cargo pants. He appeared to be calmer and grinned at Claire, shaking her hand.

"Dmitrii Udovin, how do you do?" he asked, grinning, "Senior Warrant Officer. They call me Scrapper because...well, I collect things from metal, to gum, to old bullet casings. My mother called it a problem, but...you know how moms are."

Claire smiled painfully. "Uh-huh."

Andrei gestured vaguely to his own nose. "Dmitrii, you got something on your nose, here," he snapped, "It's big and brown and I think it's making kissing noises." He started making mocking sounds in the form of "hello, my name is Dmitrii".

"Shut up!" Dmitrii snapped. "Just being polite to the lady."

Claire laughed at their interaction.

The next man beside Dmitrii smirked broadly. He had a thick, scraggly beard and it was covered in dirt or soot from whatever work that he did. His eyes were hazel and bloodshot. He was wearing overalls and a brown military jacket. His distinguishing feature was a patch of skin and metal that covered the back of his head.

"Hello there; my name's Igor Volkov. Private and B&E Specialist," he introduced, "If it detonates and it's lethal, I got it. They call me Bucket Leg because I have never walked right since a grenade caught me in the leg and they had to replace it."

Claire gestured slightly to her own head. "And...what happened to this?"

Igor laughed. "That? Oh, one of my M-14's shot off in my face."

Claire chuckled and gave him a half-amused, half-pained look. "Wow, I take it you've seen it all?"

"What do you Americans say?" Igor mused, laughing, "Ah yes, 'You're damn right'!"

The man beside Igor had short blonde hair and sandy colored eyes. He was dressed in a white shirt with suspenders and thick boots.

"Hello. I'm Yuri Gurevich; Efreitor," he said, "They call me 'Bug'."

"Why?" Claire asked.

"I like bugs."

Ivan gestured to another man standing in the corner, ignoring the conversation going on. He had short black hair, a thin mustache and dark green eyes. He was wearing a brown dirty jacket and a thick vest beneath it and cargo pants. This is my Computer Expert, Private Boris Minkowski. We call him 'Zero'," he said, "Zero likes to contribute as little as possible to a conversation." He laughed gently. "Am I right, Boris?"

Boris rolled his eyes at the laughter.

Ivan returned his gaze to the two guests. He smiled at them and gestured to his yellow, slitted eye. "You want to know about this, don't you?" he asked, "It's been on your minds since you've arrived at my home."

Claire nodded. "Are you infected?" she asked.

Ivan shook his head and leaned back a little bit. "No, I'm not infected in a way that you may be used to by now," he replied, his eyes locked onto the windows, "Hm, perhaps defective...that is word I'd use."

"What do you mean defective?" Leon asked, his brow furrowing.

Ivan heaved an impatient sigh. He slowly removed his jacket and began to unravel a long, white gauze that was wrapped around his left arm. Claire and Leon watched him intently as he did this in silence. Once he was finished, he thrust his arm out at them.

They almost wretched at the sight of it; the flesh was rippling with raw, open muscle and a greenish tinge had touched it, flicked with rough, coarse scales. His fingernails had rotted away into jagged, yellow claws.

"Oh God..." Claire gasped.

"You see?" Ivan said, staring at them bitterly. "This is what I have become at hands of your so-called 'terrorist'. And my son has suffered more than any of us here."

Claire stared at him gravely. "H-How did this happen?" she asked.

Leon answered for her. "Project W."

Ivan grinned at him. "Ahh...so you are familiar with the Project after all!" He slowly began to wrap his arm again. "I am certain you understand that a lot of children were taken the day it began. I didn't ALWAYS look like this you know."

"The tests..." Leon continued. "Over time, it became unstable and you were labeled as products of failure."

Ivan scoffed. "Unlike the other two..."

"Other two?" Claire asked.

Ivan was silent for a moment until he smirked at her. "Why, the almighty Albert Wesker of course. He was the Master's favorite after all. Once he easily adapted to injections, we were cast aside like pieces of trash. But since we couldn't be killed, he decided to use us as fodder."

"What about the other one?" Claire said. "What happened to him?"

Ivan smirked. "_Her_." he corrected.

Claire raised her brow at the correction. She said nothing and looked up as Mikhail appeared once more with a tall, slender boy tagging at his side. He quickly moved up to his father and smiled, not catching note to the guests.

"You called for me, papa?" he asked, in a quiet voice.

Ivan gestured to Leon and Claire. "We have guests. Introduce yourself, son."

The boy looked to be in his late teens, but was rather taller than any normal teenage boy. His eyes were covered with peculiar goggles and his bald head covered with strange tattoos beneath the hoodie of his jacket. He had a peculiar limp in his walk and his fingers were long and bony. He was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of tattered jeans and boots.

"Hi. I'm Mischa," he said. "Nice to meet you."

Claire cautiously held out one hand to shake his. "Um...nice to meet you too." She flinched inwardly at the dampness she felt against his palm. "Kinda got a sweaty grip, huh?"

Mischa giggled sheepishly and withdrew his hand.

Leon snorted rather contemptuously. "Cute..."

Claire gave Leon an admonishing look. "LEON!"

Mikhail took a threatening step forward. "If you cannot learn to silence your tongue, perhaps I can take it off your hands," he warned.

Mischa smiled and shrugged, waving that off. "It's okay, I've heard that kind of stuff a lot growing up. I'm used to it by now." A warm blush touched his cheeks and he glanced down at Ivan. "_Otets, ya dumayu, chto eto odin slishkom nevezhestvenny, dlya yego zhe blaga_ (Father, I think this one is too ignorant for his own good)."

Ivan nodded and rubbed his chin. "_Da. Ne ochen' yarkaya tozhe. Kak i te rasist·skikh svinogo my vstretilis' v magazine na dnyakh_ (Yes. Not very bright either. Like those racist swine we met in the store the other day)."

Mischa smiled shyly at Claire. "_Zhenshchina krasivaya, khotya_ (The woman is pretty, though)."

Ivan slowly smiled and nodded his head. "_Da. Ona yest_ (Yes. She is)."

Finally, Mischa spoke in English and glanced briefly at Leon before turning. "Papa, I am going to go work on my weapons with Rolan for a little while," he told him. "Am I dismissed?"

Ivan nodded and waited until Mischa left the room. He locked gazes with the two. "My son is afflicted with the curse that had been placed upon me. He cannot be helped, I cannot be helped and neither can the others. So just give up while you still can and just leave us alone."

Claire shook her head. "Look, you know something that might help us!" she insisted, "You have to tell us. Do you want your son living the rest of his life in this hellish kind of world?"

Ivan scoffed with disgust. "Is no different from the pain he suffered before!" He relaxed for a brief second and chuckled sorrowfully, casting his eyes to the floor. "All he had was his mother to keep him from that...and when she died-"

"And that's when you do the right thing and stand above all that!" Claire said, hard. "Goddammit, do you really see this as being the only choice for a better future for your son?" She gestured around the room.

Ivan stared at her intensely, but said nothing.

Later on, he gathered his men outside and Mischa was among them. Four others had joined them.

"Comrades, this is too big of a decision for me to make for you," he told them, "I leave it up to you to decide what you want. Do we seek out Alex and put an end to this hiding once and for all? Or do we return to how things were before?"

Dmitrii smiled and nodded. "Let's find him," he said, "For Mary."

The warriors bowed their heads and said in unison, "FOR MARY". Ivan's eyes shimmered before he looked down at Mischa. "What do you say, my son?" he asked.

Mischa nodded his head, smiling. "If I die tomorrow, at least I can say it was fighting alongside the man who I call my father."

Ivan smiled. "Then to war it is."

O

"ROLAN!"

Ivan shouted across the barn over the loud opera music that blared and nearly shattered the eardrums of everyone standing there. Claire and Leon flinched and watched as Ivan switched the music off from a box in the corner.

"Rolan. ROLAN!"

A smaller man in filthy overalls poked his head out from beneath a car, holding a soldering tool in hand. He looked rather silly in the goggles that made his eyes look bigger than they actually were. He was also wearing a leather hat and large boots with a crew-cut hairstyle and tattoos of wings across his naked back. He had a thin black goatee-like beard and bright yellow-gold eyes. He spoke with a Russian accent so thick it was almost difficult to understand him.

"What?" he snapped, "I'm busy!"

"We need vehicles ready for departure! Are the cargo trucks secured yet?" Ivan asked.

"I checked 'em an hour ago." Rolan protested.

"Check them again!" Ivan thundered. "We need them fully operational for these two people here!"

Rolan locked gazes with Leon and Claire before he let out a huff of irritation and rolled his eyes, walking away and gesturing for them to follow. He didn't even question who they were or what they were doing there. Ivan looked at them and shook his head, leading them to follow behind.

"This is Rolan Brusilov, 'AKA, Hammer," he said, "He is the Captain and Weapons Supervisor."

Mischa was hunched over a table, inspecting a set of Caliber pistols when the others approached. He spun them in his hands like a cowboy of a Western film before he turned to his father and the others. Ivan smiled at him. "The mechanics of weaponry are simple, a two-year old could figure it out in his sleep."

"How is it looking?" Ivan asked.

"Well, these will run, but it took some time to get the proper metal to replace the hammer," Mischa muttered. "I tried to make it work with used metal in the yard...but... We will see how well it runs in the field."

Ivan laughed and patted his shoulder. "You'll make it good."

Mischa smiled back and offered Claire the weapon. She gingerly took it. "That's for you..." he said, "The Kimber Aegis. A series of M1911 pistols chambered in 9mm Luger and made by Kimber Manufacturing." He gestured to the weapon as Claire surveyed it. "Aluminum frame, a black steel slide with a flat top, fluted rosewood grips, and tritium night sights. Aluminum frame reduces the weight of the gun so you can easily carry it around."

Claire smiled, impressed. "Wow, you're good!" she said.

Leon simply groaned softly with disgust at the scene. Claire looked up at Ivan as the man gathered some keys from a wall and walked over to him. Leon watched her go with a frown.

"Hey, Ivan?" Claire said.

Ivan had maps rolled out and turned to smile. "Miss Redfield, hello." he said, "I was just looking for my maps."

Claire shifted from heel to toe and gave him a weak smile. "I wanted to apologize for Leon back there; he's had bad experiences with this sort of thing," she told him, "Personally I don't really think you're as scary as they say you are."

Ivan smiled and laughed gently. "I appreciate that, Miss Redfield." He paused and half-turned. "I'm sorry about earlier."

Claire smiled and patted his arm. "You were protecting your family," she said, "There's nothing to forgive. I would have done the same."

Ivan nodded and smiled; he appeared to be embarrassed by something. "I don't imagine you think any less of me?"

"Not at all."

Ivan watched her turn and walk away before he sighed and shut his eyes. "_Bozhe, pomogi mne_ (God help me)..."


	3. Part Three

~O~

**Part Three**

"All right, let's go!"

"All right, we're movin'!"

Everyone scrambled to pack everything into their vehicles. Claire jumped into the driver's seat of the vehicle that she had gotten from Ivan and his buddies while Leon took a spot in the passenger's side of the truck that he had arrived in. Claire looked up at the sight of Ivan approaching her window. He waited for a moment before smiling.

"You are ready for this?" he asked.

Claire nodded right back and smirked. "Always ready."

Ivan glanced both ways, making sure that no one could hear before he leaned in close to her, whispering. "Alex is clever..." he whispered, warily, "He calls for us to come, but we resist. We can't resist it for long."

Claire's brow furrowed in deep thought and watched as Leon was talking with someone on his PDA.

Ivan looked over his shoulder. "GRIGORI!" he shouted, to another man, "Bring me the knives!"

Claire nearly jumped at the powerful shout and watched as another man walked up, carrying a box in his arms. He was tall and muscular with thick, black hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a white tank top and black pants with a butcher's apron around his waist.

"What is it, Ivan?" he growled, in a thick voice, "I have them ready."

Ivan gestured to Claire. "Claire, this is Sergeant Grigori Shostakovich; we call him 'Chopper'."

Claire tilted her head at the man. "Why do they call you that?"

Grigori smirked. "Give me your limbs and I'll show you." He laughed at his joke, but stopped when Claire and Ivan stared at him, clearly not impressed by it. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and shrugged his shoulders. "Moving on then..." He opened the box, revealing several knives and folded daggers and gave Claire another smile. "Choose your poison, my dear."

Claire reached in and removed a butterfly knife from the box.

Grigori chuckled. "Excellent choice!"

Ivan gestured with a flirt of his head and tapped Grigori on the shoulder once. The action seemed somewhat harsh and his features displayed a mild hint of disgust. "Move on and ready the trucks," he ordered.

Grigori quickly moved away and Ivan looked at Claire apologetically.

"Forgive him," he told her, "He has yet to properly understand the right way to speak to a woman."

Meanwhile, Leon waited to connect to Hunnigan on his PDA. He was sitting impatiently until he finally had proper connection before Hunnigan's face eventually appeared, relieved to see him. _"Leon. How are you holding up over there?"_ she asked.

He raised a brow. "Bad question, Hunningan."

She smiled sympathetically. _"Sorry to hear that..."_ she replied,

Leon looked up, listening to voices outside of the bathroom before he spoke. "Hunnigan, I have some bad news," he told her, "I've received confirmation regarding Project W. Looks like Ada's tip was right after all."

_"Leon, you have to get out of there..." _Hunningan whispered, glancing over her shoulder for a brief moment, _"It's become difficult over here. Ben and I are hiding out in the van, but we can't stay in one place too long. Whatever you can dig up will help a lot."_

Leon looked a little concerned. "You're okay though, right?"

She nodded her head, a tired look crossing her features for a brief second. _"I'm fine," _she answered, _"There was a male civilian here who had some useful information about an Umbrella base located somewhere in the South Seas islands. According to him, it could have some information for us. He's a little bit of a shady older fellow. Maybe you can get the BSAA to check it out. I'll send coordinates as soon as I can. Follow them. Work with what you can."_

Leon nodded. "Alright, take care of yourself, Hunningan," he said, "I'll keep in touch. You do the same." He clicked the PDA off and turned in time to see Claire standing there. "Claire."

She folded her arms across her chest and walked over to him, her brows raised. "Leon. Are you finally going to trust me enough to fill me in on your little plan?" she asked.

He sighed. "I wish I could, Claire," he told her, "But it's not a matter of trust, it's a matter of safety."

"I hardly think it matters anymore in the world we're living in," she pointed out, skeptically, "We need to know anything that we can to fix what has happened. Ivan's been worried about something, something regarding Project W." She paused and shook her head, trying to sound realistic. "He's afraid that he won't be able to resist some 'call' or something."

Leon looked thoughtful for a moment, murmuring once before he nodded his head. "One thing at a time, Claire," he assured her, "Once we get moving and figure out who we're dealing with, then we can go from there."

"So how long have you known about Project W?" she asked, her tone slightly accusatory.

"A long time." Leon admitted.

"And you didn't think that I MIGHT have wanted to know about this?" Claire snapped, "And maybe even Chris? It could have helped us a long time ago!"

Leon stared at her sternly for a few seconds before he returned his gaze to the road. "It was classified information directly from the president," he explained. "I couldn't give anything out to you or to your brother."

Claire scoffed. "Puh...'Classified'..."

Always classified. That's how it was with Leon; most of the time, even when it was really important, he put his job before her. Usually she'd expect that by now and didn't voice what she was really feeling. Chris was the same way. It just irritated her, even though she recognized the importance of his job. But by now, what did classified even matter anymore?

O

The convoy of Russians followed Claire and Leon down the deserted road.

Inside Ivan's truck, two of his men were in the middle of an argument in the back. Sasha Kiryakov was angrily cursing at Vladimir Leonov and thrusting a folded map in his face as Ivan and Mikhail in the front of the truck listened with mild amusement.

Sasha was a very fussy individual who liked to take great care in his stuff. He was smaller than the others, but very strong and build like that of a warthog. He was often seen arguing with Vladimir over folded or creased maps at any given time or day. As a communications expert, he was capable of shielding and preventing anyone from tracing phone calls, most particularly Ivan so that he could not be tracked down by Umbrella easily. He wasn't too sure what to think of Claire or Leon at first, but eventually connects with them. He was often called "Dizzy" because he tended to irritate people with his constant bickering.

Vladimir was youngest of the group. He was often quiet and actually shy around other people he meets, but he often tried to make up for that in fierce loyalty and duty without question. He joined the Russian Army when he was only 14 and looked up to Ivan even now as he grew older. He had long blond hair and a thin beard and mustache with gray eyes. He took to Claire quickly when she seemed to capture the attention of his leader. He easily could see though that she was kind. He was called 'Skipper' because of his upbeat attitude and general eagerness in battle. That and his quick speed make him a valuable fighter.

Sasha slapped the map across Vladimir's face. "_Vy bespolezno_ (You are useless)!" he said, exasperated.

Vladimir stared at him in protest, shrugging his shoulders. "_YA ne skladyvat' ikh! Pogovorite s Andryeem_ (I didn't fold them! Talk to Andrei)!"

Sasha gestured to his own head. "_Vsegda sobvinyat'! Vy mozhete ispol'zovat' moi karty vse vremya_ (Always with the blaming! You use my maps all the time)!"

Vladimir pushed his shoulder roughly. "_Vy skulit', kak moya babushka! Dazhe yesli by ya ne znal, kto ona takaya_ (You whine like my grandmother! Even if I knew who she was)!" he snapped, with irritation.

Claire's amused voice filled their radio. _"Um, boys?"_ she said, laughing.

Ivan gave Mikhail a look before he picked up the speaker of the CB radio and pressed SPEAK. "Yes, ma'am?" he answered, feigning innocence.

_"Are your friends gonna spend this whole trip playing house or are you gonna show us where to find this guy?"_ Claire asked, laughing.

"Whatever you wish, however you wish, Miss Redfield..." Ivan answered, a smirk in his voice. He hung up his end of the line before giving Mikhail a curious look, watching the man grimace slightly. "What?"

"You are flirting with American girl," Mikhail said, unable to resist a laugh.

"What? No, I am not!" Ivan barked, blushing slightly.

Vladimir leaned forward and hissed teasingly near Ivan's ear.

"Ivan's got himself a little crush!" he sang.

"Stop that!" Ivan snapped back at him.

"_Ti takaya privlekatel'naya _(You are so pretty)!" Vladimir and Sasha sang in goofy, dramatic voices, "_Tee ma-yA sud'-bA _(You are my destiny)!"

On the other end of the line, Claire could still hear them arguing in snippets of Russian before she laughed and hung up her end of her radio. She was happy to have it with her to keep tabs on everyone. It definitely made things a little easier.

Suddenly, she looked up at a tall, jagged shadow standing in the middle of the road. Claire gave a startled shout and slammed on the brakes. The car struck the shape and flipped it over onto its side. There was a loud, metallic screech of pain and whatever it was disappeared over the side of the road. Immediately, the cars behind her stopped and everyone started pouring out to offer aid. Ivan was the first to reach her.

"Miss Redfield!" he shouted, "Are you all right?"

Claire climbed out of her window, bruised but okay. "Oh God, what did I hit?" she exclaimed.

Mikhail looked over her shoulder and spotted the shape that Claire had struck with her car twitching in the bushes. He slowly approached it and his eyes went wide once he made out the jagged details of the thing.

"What the hell?"

The others joined him and stared down at what he was looking at.

It was a horrible abomination of what appeared to be human flesh and insect lying on its side. The human body looked to have been destroyed from unholy mutations of bone and meat. Mandibles stretched out from its back and its eyes were pale white almost human. One arm was a long segmented insect-like digit with barbs on the ends and the other a large mutation of claws. It appeared to have larger upper body mass than lower and the human arms were thick with muscle.

The legs were re-shaped: flayed with jutting barbs and feet ending in long, dangerous talons. The fore cranial and sinus areas of the skull appeared to have been dis-articulated (detached) from the neck, the jaws both upper and lower being mutated and providing the only real attachment points. The upper sets of teeth are completely gone along with most of the palette reaching back into the throat. In their place is a pair of multi-jointed appendages. The lower jaw is split into two curved mandibles ending in knife-like fangs.

"What the hell is that thing?" Andrei snapped.

"Looks like something from the Fly," Yuri said.

Leon gave him a skeptical frown. "Of course _you_ would be the first to make that comparison..." he muttered.

"Is it dead?" Claire asked.

"When are they ever?" Leon pointed out.

Igor staggered passed everyone and bent down, grabbing the creature by the leg. He dragged it out of the bushes and dropped it into the street with a sick, wet sound that caused Claire to flinch. He smiled at them.

"Looks dead to me," he said.

Mikhail looked across the street and noticed Ivan squatting beside the edge of a field, scooping up a handful of dirt. Ivan tilted his head, as if he was in deep thought before he looked up toward the seemingly empty field. His brow knotted thoughtfully and he scented the air a few times. The others watched him silently, trying to understand what he was doing. He placed his hand on the ground and closed his eyes.

"Ivan?" Mikhail said, "What is it?"

Ivan raised a finger, gesturing for him to be silent. After a long moment, his eyes slowly widened and he stood up, moving for his truck.

"Weapons!" he bellowed, "Get your weapons now!"

Claire looked at him in confusion and worry. "What's wrong?" she asked, "What-"

Then, she looked over her shoulder and saw exactly what he had sensed.

A crowd of squirming shadows appeared through the field and a collection of inhuman, metallic screams pierced the air. The shapes were the same horrible abominations of flesh and insect screaming toward them. Their bodies were twitching rapidly, as if they were seizing and swinging their dangerous limbs about.

"_der'mo_ (Shit)..." Ivan cursed.

O

It became chaos as bullets flew wildly through the air, shredding into the bloodied, mutated flesh of the creatures.

Ivan shoved the barrel of his shotgun into one of the creature's mouths and squeezed the trigger, shattering its head in a spray of gore. It twitched violently, swinging its claws about when Ivan grabbed one of them and with a fierce snarl, yanked them completely off.

Grigori swung his machete through the air and began to decapitate one of the creatures with a yell of mirth. "Come on, you freaks!" he spat, "Come and get a taste of Grigori!"

Yuri grabbed at the swiping digits of the creature coming for him and his hand was sliced in the process. He gave a shout of pain and staggered back. Just as it dove for him, screaming with blood lust, he snatched his handgun from his waist holster and plugged several rounds into its head. It folded over and collapsed on top of him. Yuri gave a cry and raised his hands to cushion his body from the weight of the creature.

When it twitched a few times before dying, Yuri delicately sniffed it before grimacing.

Once the creatures were subdued, Claire and Leon bent over one that appeared to still be alive; its body was spasming and foam spilled from its lacerated mouth. Leon raised his handgun to finish it, but suddenly, much to their shock, it began to punctuate words.

"A...lex..." it choked, in a horrible voice.

Claire's eyes widened. "It's talking, Leon," she whispered, stunned, "That thing's talking."

Its pale white eye looked directly at them, wide and insane with agony. "Alex...Islan...d-d..." it sputtered, "Island...S-South..."

Finally, Leon plugged a round in its skull and it seized once before going still with a final, dying sigh.

Yuri winced and Grigori sighed, reaching into the back of his truck to remove a first aid kit. He studied Yuri's wound and immediately pulled out wrapping gauze."Come here, you big baby," he snapped, "It's just a flesh wound."

Yuri exhaled sharply and gave him a cold look. "It still hurts!" He grunted and waited for Mikhail to bandage the wound. "I've never seen anything like those creatures before. They appeared to be mutated from a type of roach."

Grigori snorted. "How do you know?"

"Aside from their famous hissing noise, some cockroaches will make a chirping noise," Yuri explained, "Cockroaches also leave chemical trails in their feces as well as emitting airborne pheromones for swarming and mating."

Mikhail snorted, sickened by the thought. "Good to know..."

Yuri nodded his head, smiling and missing the jibe. "See? Insects can be interesting as-"

Then, Vladimir's voice filled the air, frightened and trembling. "M-Mikhail?"

Mikhail caught the worried sound and turned, noticing Ivan sniffing deeply with his back to them; his head tossed back. He sniffed the air wildly in an almost disoriented fashion before slowly turning to the others. His eyes locked onto Yuri's bloody hand. His body stiffened, hands twitching and eyes blank of emotion. His nostrils began to flutter rapidly like a dog's and his lips pulled back, revealing his jagged teeth.

Mischa's eyes widened.

"Papa!" he shouted.

Mikhail and two other men suddenly lunged quickly, pinning Ivan to the ground. He was groaning, kicking out his legs and his hungry gaze locked onto Yuri. He looked like a desperate, hungry animal and his face a mask of intense struggle. Mischa rushed in and seized his father by his head.

"Ivan, you did not take your pill?" Mikhail gasped.

Mischa was whispering in Ivan's ear, struggling to help hold him down as well. "_Pozhaluĭsta, papa, vy znaete cheloveka, vy_ (Please, papa, you know the man you are)!"

Ivan's mouth began to drip with saliva as he struggled in their grips. "One bite..." he panted, in a hurried and frantic tone, "One! Just one! I need it!"

"You don't need it!" Mikhail insisted, desperately. "You don't need it!"

"I need it!" Ivan shrieked, eyes glittering with madness. "Give him to me! I want him! GIVE HIM!"

Mischa struggled to keep his father's eyes locked to his. They were blank, glossy and empty, spittle flickering from his lips. "_Ne nado. Vam ne nuzhno eto. Ty sil'nyee, chem eto, papa! Pozhaluĭsta_ (Don't. You don't need it. You're stronger than this, papa! Please)!"

"Where are his pills?" Sasha demanded.

"In his pocket!"

Claire and Leon watched the scene silently in shock as two other men wildly fished through his coat to find the bottle of pills in his pocket before removing a white bottle. It was madness as they struggled to force a small red pill down the larger man's throat, prying his jaw open and holding it as hard as they could. He kicked, shrieked, and snarled at them in broken fragments of English and Russian. His foot kicked Igor in the side and he winced in pain.

After what seemed like an eternity of holding him down, they managed to get him to swallow the pill and keep him restrained until it took its complete effect. His kicking slowly stopped and his clawing began to cease.

Ivan stopped panting and he grunted, casting his gaze around the entire barn to his comrades. The frightened looks and the uneasy smiles told him that he had lost his will again. He knew now that in the rush, he had forgotten to take his pill.

"_Prostite menya_ (Forgive me)..." he whispered.

Claire and Leon looked at one another, shock and unease on their faces. They didn't know what to make of this new discovery. And to make matters worse, there were more of these "Wesker" children still out there somewhere.

The convoy moved on. In the distance, an unknown figure in body armor and a gas mask was watching them. He slowly reached into his pocket and removed a cell phone, dialing a number quickly before waiting.

"Subject I-11 is on his way".

O

Chris was relieved when he was finally able to connect with Josh Stone via his video connection. Rose, Jonas, Beth and Kirk were setting up a barricade through the hospital to prevent the undead from swarming inside.

_"It's become a real mess over here at the African Branch, Chris,"_ Josh told him warily, _"But I think I managed to scrap up some useful information about this Rose Bedford and the part that she plays in all of this."_

Chris looked particularly relieved. Best news he heard all day.

"Go ahead."

Josh typed a few keys and brought up another screen, covering his face. It looked like an older Umbrella transfer document. As far as Chris could tell, it was listing a few names and numbers of possible test subjects to be transferred to particular places around the world. Rose's name was there as well, but there was a large CANCELLED stamp right in front of it.

_"Rose Bedford's name is on the list,"_ Josh said, _"She was scheduled for transfer 20 years ago to Umbrella's European Branch, but it was cancelled. It took a while to dig up the old files, but it states in a memo here that she was taken to live in Newark City instead with another scientist named Charles Bedford. She would have been only a year old by then. Here, read this."_

He brought up another image. This one was of an official fax paper that was originally sent to Ozwell E. Spencer.

**Date: Sep. 18, 1993**

**To: Raccoon City Umbrella Division**

**Attn: Manager of Facilities**

**From: Newark City Research Department**

**Test subject: BEDFORD, L. ROSE Age: 1 DOB: 1993**

**Admission date: 2/17/93 Attending Physician: ALEX W.**

**3/14 22:00 Administered Virus: Type-B**

**NO VISIBLE SIGNS OF MUTATION**

**Plasmolyzing of tissue during cell activation.**

**Virus fusion: Positive but delayed fusion.**

**Body modification: Observed constant results.**

**Status: Continue protective observation.**

_The contents of this fax are confidential and intended for the named addressee only. Any copying, or disclosure of the contents of this fax to any third party is strictly forbidden by the sender. After reading the contents of this fax, must be destroyed immediately._

_Sept. 18th 1994_

_Time is not of the essence, you realize as Albert's observation must continue as well. Close observation is necessary under a third party eye for Rose Lenore Bedford, notably Charles Bedford, who has taken interest in the child. He had to have some regard for her, given that she had received his surname in the process._

_I suggest, with your permission that Charles assume the role of her father for the time being, allow for her to adapt to a normal society like the other subjects had with everything that she will need upon adulthood._

_Her body has counteracted the injections as noted, which may have positive results for the future. If Albert and Rose cannot meet, I will offer myself up for the selection as originally intended. Though I question the necessity to do so._

_"It is a real problem,"_ Josh said, interrupting Chris before he could finish reading the rest, _"You have already met this Rose Bedford, haven't you?"_

Chris nodded, frowning. He glanced back briefly to watch the others talking. "Yeah, but she doesn't seem to have any interest in stuff like that. I don't think that we have to worry about them making her the breeder any time soon."

_"We cannot be too certain, Chris," _Josh told him, _"We have to be absolutely sure. A child from two beings like that could bring danger to us all. We have to prevent this from happening."_

And just how did he expect Chris to do that?

"What are you suggesting?" Chris asked.

Josh sighed. _"We saw him die in that volcano, Chris. He's returned before..."_

Chris couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Josh, you saw it!" he insisted, catching the interest of Rose and the others, "We blew him up! Wesker's come back from some destruction before, but no one can come back from that!"

Suddenly, the image of Josh disappeared and was replaced with an elder man's. He had short gray hair and a thick mustache. It was Captain Eric Klein who had become the new head of the American Branch after Dan DeChant's death.

_"Chris Redfield, I've been attempting to reach you for several hours,"_ he said,_ "What is your status?"_

Chris sighed and shook his head. "Sorry, sir, we've been having problems here," he told him, "Newark City is a mess. It's Raccoon City all over again. Even worse, someone was scrambling my signal and I wasn't able to reach you."

Eric looked mildly concerned; that was the new Captain for you. He had little emotion, despite the shocking news.

_"Have you discovered the subject?"_ he asked.

"Yeah, Rose's here with us. She's fine." Chris said.

_"Keep her under tight surveillance until you reach the..."_

Then, Eric's connection began to filter through static to the point that his image and voice became unclear. Chris gave a frustrated curse and turned to the others watching him.

"So what's the plan, then?" Kirk asked.

Chris started to answer him, but a strange clicking-rattle sound filled the group immediately tensed and raised their weapons to the shadows. The lobby of the hospital had been completely destroyed and there were no signs of the undead, but multiple shadows bolted passed them.

"What the hell was that?" Jonas whispered, terrified.

Behind them, something darted by and they whirled in an attempt to catch it, but there was nothing.

"We need to move, now!" Chris whispered, "Get going!"

The group raced through the lobby and up the stairs. Unfortunately, there was a crowd of undead in the hallways waiting for them above and they snarled toward them. The group shredded them in a shower of bullet fire. They rushed passed the throng of undead remains and hurried down the hallways. Once they were certain that they were out of harms way for now, they paused in front of a receptionist's desk to catch their breath.

Rose looked up at the sight of a message scrawled on the wall with what looked like dried blood. It read: "I saw it. Don't use handguns. You'll waste your time."

"Guys, check this out," she said, walking up to it.

They looked up and studied the cryptic message. "What do they mean, 'I saw it'?" Jonas asked, looking at Rose.

"Hell if I know," Rose muttered, "But it means I don't want to stay here for much longer."

"I hear you there," Beth said, "We need to stop shitting around and get the hell out of the city."

Chris shook his head before he glanced over his shoulder. "Let's get moving and see if we can find anyone alive."

O

The group made their way through the hospital in search of survivors. Chris pressed Rose to continue telling him anything that might have connected her to Umbrella in any way. Rose mentioned her father's death.

"I remember coming here years ago," Rose said, maintaining eye contact around her.

"Why?" Chris asked.

"The day my dad was killed," Rose told him, her eyes filled with pain, "I was brought here after they found me clinging to his lifeless body." She glanced sidelong at Chris. "I never met the guy or knew why he was there, but he came into my house and shot my father down in cold blood. I admit, attacking him was probably not the smartest thing I've ever done. I came here after they found a piece of glass sticking out of my shoulder."

Chris' eyes widened. "God..."

"I came to find out later that he was an Umbrella hit man," Rose explained, "Apparently, my dad pissed the company off and this guy was sent to take him out." She rolled her eyes. "Umbrella has a history of snuffing out people they don't like."

Chris shook his head. "I don't think you were the intended target."

Rose scoffed and stopped, pulling her jacket off and turning so that Chris could look at her shoulder. He could see a horrible scar where in truth, she must have been stabbed. It was wicked and pale against her skin and looked like something exploding outward.

"You call THIS unintended?" she snapped, glaring back at him.

Chris tightened his jaw when she fitted her jacket back on. He had nothing else to say on the matter.

"Tell me, Redfield," Rose said, giving him a foul look, "When you were talking about me to your superior, did he ask how you plan on killing me?"

Chris looked stunned. "What?"

The others looked at him in disbelief. "Kill?" Beth exclaimed.

"No, you've misunderstood!" Chris insisted, holding out his hands, "We've talked about bringing you in for questioning, maybe even some tests, but nothing invasive. We believe you might be part of the Wesker Project. We just want to know what you are, what methods were used to make you and-"

Kirk laughed angrily and invaded his personal space. "Listen to yourself, you're fucking sick in the head!" he spat, "Rose was born in Newark City! Born to Charles Bedford! She wasn't 'created' like a fucking toy!"

"You don't even KNOW, do you?" Chris shouted back, just as furious; he jabbed a finger in Kirk's chest before gesturing to Rose, "She doesn't even know a goddamn thing about her history! We've got it all on paper!"

Rose laughed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, somewhat more calm about the words that he spouted than the rest of them. She sucked her teeth before glaring at Chris. "Know what? You're an idiot. I'm not listening to you anymore." she said, turning to go, "I have a low tolerance for idiots."

Just as she turned, something darted out from one of the patient rooms and slammed into her, knocking her to the floor. The others gasped and scattered briefly, stunned to see Rose attempting to hold back a creature that pinned her to the floor. It had tough, shining scales that were dark green in color with brown patches. It was slender and somewhat larger than the Hunter that Chris had seen in the Arklay Mansion. Its jaws were thick and body rippled with muscle.

Rose winced and held back the claws nearing her face. "Get this ugly shit off of me!" she shouted.

A thick, white digit slid out from the Hunter's wrist and Rose's eyes widened.

Chris surged up and delivered a wicked kick to the Hunter's abdomen, sending the creature sprawling off of Rose. It quickly rolled and scaled up the length of the wall. Chris raised his shotgun and pumped a round into it. The shellfire ripped into the Hunter's body, sending a spray of blood and green flesh splattering across the wall. The Hunter gave a dying scream and collapsed behind the receptionist's desk. Chris moved to put a final bullet into it, but the Hunter was already lying dead in a pool of blood.

"Shit!" Rose growled, standing, "What the fuck was that?"

Chris gave the creature one final look before turning to her. "It looked like the MA-Hunter type Umbrella had created in 1998. But this one..." He glanced back down at the dead creature and then looked at the others. "Someone's behind all of this; someone with access to the virus and means of creating these things as well as altering it the way that we've witnessed. It would have to be someone either within a company or someone with connections. Maybe this Neo Umbrella..."

Kirk shook his head. "Chris, we've worked with New Genesis for years in the science field," he argued, "We've never seen anything like this pass through."

"Yeah. It's possible that someone is working on the outside," Beth agreed.

Chris knotted his brow. "It might have something to do with Alex."

"Alex?" Rose questioned.

"Alex Wesker," Chris told her, "When Jill and I infiltrated the Spencer Estate, we were able to uncover something regarding the Wesker children and their being kept under a watchful eye of a man named Alex Wesker. Even Albert Wesker himself was being raised under his thumb. But he's been in hiding for so long and we've never been able to find his location until you mentioned the islands on the South Seas."

Beth shrugged her shoulders skeptically. "If he's been in hiding all this time, why would he suddenly pop up out of the blue like this?"

"That's what we need to find out," Chris said, "But like Umbrella, Alex would need some kind of patsy to do all of this; deliver at such a far location and keep himself in the shadows. Knowing the Wesker's, they've never been one to do things on their own. They always need some slaves to do their dirty work. We need to find that patsy and see what he knows."

"You got it." Beth said.

Just then, the sounds of moaning snarls filled the air and the three whirled, watching as a crowd of zombies slowly staggered toward them from the rooms around them. Chris backed up with his gun trained on them.

"Okay, smart guy; what now?" Kirk snapped.

Just then, a loud, high-pitched whistling sound filled the air. Everyone looked around and was shocked when the zombies slowly turned away from them and started walking away, toward the hospital lobby entrance. The others slowly followed behind, stunned by the movements of the undead.

"Where are they going?" Jonas whispered.

"I don't know." Chris said, "It's like they're being called by someone."

They descended the stairs to the first floor, watching as the zombies disappeared outside. For a long time, there was an uncomfortable stillness in the air. The group looked around warily, waiting for the eerie silence to pass.

It did.

It was replaced with a loud, vibrating rattling sound that led into a full-out roar that shattered the hospital windows around them simultaneously. Everyone ducked and shielded their faces from raining glass and debris. Just then, the walls of the lobby erupted and an enormous shape emerged. Thick, violet tendrils shot out from the surrounding windows around them, circling around the stairs and clutching the walls overhead.

Chris' eyes widened in horror when he saw what emerged from the smoke.

It was an abomination of human flesh and what looked like sea animal; its body was so massive, it took up most of the hospital wall. Its sickly, damp scaly flesh sagged in various areas where there appeared to be cracks and pus-filled wounds. It had large claws that gripped the sides of the wall and didn't appear to have any legs from what Chris could see. Its head didn't appear to have any eyes, but instead, multiple flaring holes.

"Oh my God!" Rose screamed.

The creature tossed back its head and roared, a piercing, screaming sound. Its head split in several different directions like a horrible flower. Chris attempted to squeeze rounds into its body; blast after blast shattered the flesh of the creature. The sickening wet sounds of hot, burning metal shredding through flesh and its quick wails of fury and pain were the only sounds that resonated through the air. Its blood splashed all around it in a sick, crimson pool. Once Chris stopped to survey the believed damage he thought he had done, the creature tossed its head and roared again in fury, clearly unharmed and enraged by the assault.

"We're going to have a problem..." Jonas said, warily.


	4. Part Four

~O~

**Part Four**

The whistling sound filled the air again and the creature tilted its head into it before diving at the group with a screaming roar.

They separated moments before its claws came down, digging horrible trenches through the floor. A single tentacle lashed out and grabbed Jonas by the ankle. He screamed and dropped his weapon, attempting to grab onto the floor to avoid being dragged to his death. The others dove for him and Rose acted quick. She spotted a fire axe housed in its casing and grabbed it. Rushing for the tentacle, she delivered several wicked blows, chopping through the squishy appendage until it was taken clean off.

The creature screamed in fury and pain, blood sputtering from its cut appendage.

"That pissed him off!" Jonas cried.

It snarled and swung one of the tendrils directly at them. Everyone ducked out of the way to avoid being hit again. They gathered their weapons and took shots at its head, pelting it in a shower of lead that clearly did no damage.

"It's skin's too tough!" Beth shouted, "We need to find a weak spot!"

"How do you want to do that?" Kirk snapped, over the wails of the monster.

Rose reached around her waist and raised her sub-machine gun at its throat. She delivered a volley of shots at it. It screeched and leaned to one side, exposing a large, swollen, fluid-filled sac on its back. Rose's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of it. The creature doubled forward and began to expel a pool of blood and water through its mouth to which everyone backed away to avoid being hit by it. Rose gestured to the sac.

"There! Shoot that!" she shouted, "Shoot it!"

Everyone did as she said and fired shot after shot for the sensitive sacs, pursing their lips tightly with fury and concentration. The creature let out a scream of mortal agony and thrashed about. Its arms flew wildly and snapped several claws before it retreated from the wall of the hospital, into the rushing waters of the bay. Rose and Chris watched it go in silence before looking back at the others, relief on their faces.

"Shit, what the fuck was that thing?" Jonas demanded.

"Rose!" Beth suddenly cried.

The woman turned and her eyes widened in horror. Kirk was lying in a pool of his own blood, impaled through the stomach by a long, black talon from the creature. She quickly rushed over and bent down to him. Blood was trickling down his mouth and chin, soaking his clothes.

"Oh my God, Kirk!" she cried, gathering him in her arms.

Everyone circled the sputtering, gasping form of Kirk as he writhed and moaned in agony. He looked up at them and his eyes grew wide, almost as if he wasn't looking at them anymore. There was an insanity there that was not there before. Something about it was different this time; more primal...more frightened, like that of a wounded animal. He gasped and choked as Rose held him in her arms, sputtering blood.

"R-Rose?" he groaned, "I-can't see you...I can't see..."

"Kirk, hold on!" Rose cried, desperately; she glared back at Chris, "FUCKING DO SOMETHING!"

Chris grabbed her shoulder. "You can't! He's already dead!"

"Fuck you!" she shrieked, "He's not dead!"

Kirk looked up at her and gripped her jacket tightly in blood-soaked hands before hissing out, "Rose" one last time. His body seized and he finally went limp in her arms. Rose stared down at his lifeless body in horror and disbelief before uttering a shriek of fury and pain.

O

Claire and Mischa rode together down the darkened road that night. She had wanted answers from the boy about what was wrong with Ivan and felt that speaking to him alone was for the best should Leon or any of the others attempt to try and correct him.

"Papa's not so bad, you know." Mischa told Claire.

Claire smiled and nodded, trying to be as polite as possible, despite the surprise of what she had witnessed in the field. "Yeah, he's sweet in his own way," she said, "But he's kind of a hard ass. A little too tense around others."

Mischa couldn't resist a laugh. "Yeah, but that's just his way. Every since mama died..."

Claire cocked her head. "Hey, was your mother American?" she asked.

Mischa raised his brows and nodded. "Uh-huh. She was."

Claire smiled at him. "Your accent isn't as prominent as your father's." She paused and stared ahead. "Was she a great woman?"

Mischa nodded anxiously. "Oh yes! She was sweet...and kind...and...and..." he began. He collected his thoughts before looking serious now. "Sometimes when I would have a bad day, I close my eyes and hope that I might seem my mother again. Sometimes, I see someone on the street and I hope that it might be her. When I look, it never is..." He looked at her. "A lot of people once called my father Ivan the Terrible. It's only because he can't be near blood."

Claire frowned back at that as she bent down to the blood. "Why?"

"Papa's condition..." Mischa continued, sadly. "It's because he loves the smell of blood. It's not of his own choice, though. He has to take pills to keep himself sane. I don't know where he gets them because he won't tell me. He says it's something he hopes I never have to deal with in the future when I get older."

Claire frowned at that. It didn't sound good at all.

Mischa sighed now. "I don't understand why Americans and Russians could never get along..." he continued, "Mikhail thinks it's because both sides can't come to an agreement. When I ask what they need to agree on, he never tells me." He tsked and shook his head with dismay. "Tch... politics...the bane of the civilized world."

Claire raised her brows. "Are you referring to Leon?"

He didn't answer.

"Mischa, it's okay if you have second opinions about Leon and me," Claire chided gently, "I wouldn't blame you."

Mischa looked at her in surprise. "Miss. Redfield; father says it's not proper to speak to a woman like that. In any regard." he argued, "He always told me that a man should never verbally harm a woman no matter what."

Claire laughed. "Your father certainly holds respect for women, doesn't he?"

"Yes, as do I. It's only proper."

Claire smiled now. "That's very sweet of you," she told him, "I'm surprised you haven't had a girlfriend by now with that kind of outlook on women."

Mischa looked down shyly. "No. I'm not what a women would want in a man."

"Bullshit," Claire joked, "You and your father both think so low of yourselves. Personally, I think any woman in the world would be lucky to have guys as sweet as you two." She sighed and glanced in her rear view mirror to Leon's vehicle moving behind her. "Between you and me, Mischa; a lot of men in this world could take advice from you two. We certainly need more guys like you in the world. There's never enough of them."

Mischa blushed somewhat. "Thank you, Miss Redfield."

"Call me Claire."

"If you want me to."

Meanwhile, Ivan was leaning against the passenger window, staring at the passing road in silence. Mikhail was driving and stared at his leader with worry, glancing between him and the road before he inhaled and spoke.

"Talk, Ivan," he urged, "You know what happens when you build it up."

Ivan's voice was lower, rough and almost parched. "Did you see it, Mikhail?" he asked, quietly with bitterness.

"What?"

"Did you see how she looked at me?"

Mikhail sighed. "It was not your fault, Ivan." he argued, clenching the wheel tightly.

"I should have been more attentive than that," Ivan snapped, sitting up and giving his friend a dark look, "Its a lack of that which caused Mary harm!"

Mikhail looked pained. "Mary did not turn you away when she knew, Ivan. Claire did not either."

"She was afraid."

"Of course she was! Mary was at first too. But did she try to put a bullet in your head? No."

Ivan sighed and looked away. Mikhail stared at him for a moment before frowning. "Why should it matter what the woman thinks of you?" he asked, glancing at the road again, "It's not like you have any sort of-" He cut himself off and his eyes went wide when he understood. "Oh God..." He looked at Ivan in disbelief. "Ivan...my old friend; please tell me that it isn't true. You cannot think of it! It's madness!"

Ivan shook his head sadly. "I know, Mikhail. I already know..."

O

Rose was silent as she drove her truck through the city. Jonas tapped Rose's shoulder through the window.

"Rose, maybe I should drive," he offered.

"You're not driving my truck." Rose said, flatly.

Chris shook his head. "Rose, we need to talk about this," he told her.

Rose's voice came out darker now. "I don't want to talk right now."

Chris sighed and removed his PDA. He attempted to contact Eric and sure enough his image appeared on the screen. _"Chris, we have a problem,"_ he said.

Chris frowned. "What problem?"

_"There has been word among the United States Air force that they plan to eradicate Newark City of the infection," _Eric told him; he actually looked concerned this time, _"I am holding the decision off for as long as I can, but they won't wait forever."_

Beth shook her head desperately. "You can't do that!" she cried.

Rose chuckled with contempt and gave Beth a rather nasty smirk. "Well, look on the bright side; we don't have to go to work in the morning."

Eric looked at Beth on the screen. _"Unfortunately, they can, even despite my attempts,"_ he told her coldly. He looked at Chris again. _"You don't have much time. You have to be outside the city before the detonation."_

"How much time?" Chris asked.

_"I cannot say for sure. Maybe an hour. Two at the most."_

Chris nodded his head. "Affirmative. We'll find a way."

He cut off the connection and looked at Rose. "Do you know a way out of this city?" he asked her.

"I might," she snapped, her tone icy, "The Abbotsford Memorial Airport is only a few blocks from here. There may be a way through there."

Rose's cold expressions and flat tone began to concern her friends. "Rose, say something," Beth insisted, "You've been quiet since we've left the hospital."

"Want me to say something?" Rose said, her voice dangerously close to a shout; she grinned angrily, "Fine. I will." She slapped her hands on the steering wheel. "One of my best friends was just fucking killed and I couldn't do a fucking thing! The city is overrun by fucking monsters and zombies trying to kill us. On top of that, we got a fucking clown trying to play us for puppets! NOW CAN YOU SEE WHY I'M SO FUCKING ANGRY?"

Jonas smiled slightly with unease. "Yeah, I guess we can."

Rose and Chris looked up and her eyes suddenly widened. "Rose, watch out!" Chris shouted.

Rose slammed on the brakes and the truck screeched to a halt. A barricade of vehicles and road blocks prevented any further continue in the truck. The group climbed out and quickly made their way into an alley. Snarls sounded behind them and they looked back at a horde of zombies hot on their tail. Chris was looking around for a place to take cover. He spotted a suitable place; a grocery corner store just up ahead.

"All of you, to that store!" he shouted.

They quickly hurried, following him into the general store before they were inches from her own demise. They hurriedly slammed the doors shut behind them and instantaneously rushed to block the door by pushing a metal shelf in front of it. The sounds of zombies outside as they attempted to get into the shop was nearly deafening. The group took a few steps back, worried that it would not hold forever. They had to find a back way.

"Chris to HQ, there were more of them than we thought," Chris said, through his headset. "This whole town's gone to hell, we need backup."

_"Roger that. Stay sharp out there, Chris. The mission still stands."_ Came the automatic reply from a man Chris didn't recognize.

"How do they expect us to continue in these conditions?" Chris groused, furious, "It's insane. We're going to be killed out there!"

Kirk rolled his eyes. "Nice. Now we can simply stand in a straight line and sing show tunes to lure them all back in here."

Chris made a sound that was neither amused nor serious.

Rose cocked her head at the sound of steps around the rows of shelves. Besides "Hell" by Squirrel Nut Zippers playing on a radio in the distance, there was some one or something else in the shop with them. She gestured quietly for Chris and the others to follow her as her held up at the ready. They slowly approached the corner of the shelves and jumped out.

It wasn't a zombie of any kind but rather instead was a shaking, filthy man with a handgun leveled at their heads. He looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept in days and he was wearing a business suit that was covered in blood and dirty.

"This is my spot!" he hissed, "Get your own!"

Beth looked a little pissed. "Hey! We're not going anywhere, white meat," she said, "There are hundreds of those things out there."

"That's not my damn problem!" the man snarled, "This is my spot!"

Chris took a step forward, an attempt to subdue the man with a non-violent intimidating action. "There's plenty of room for all of us in here, you know." he said, "We can all hide if we keep our mouths shut."

"I don't give a damn if 40 anorexic women could fit in here!" the man raged, nearly screaming.

If he kept that up, they would be heard by the creatures outside and this verbal exchange would not have made any bit of difference then.

"You need to shut the fuck up before I plug one in your mouth!" Rose threatened in a furious hiss.

Beth decided on a more subtle approach to prevent an unnecessary quarrel. "Look, do you have any idea how any of this happened?" she asked him, "And why it took over in such a short time? Where were you when it hit?"

The man chuckled angrily, hand still shaking as he pointed the gun to all of them back and forth, watching them carefully. "What's going on?" he snapped, repeating Beth with sarcasm in his own voice. "Hell, how should I fucking know what's going on?" He chuckled again, breath trembling and voice broken. "My wife was sick last night. Real sick. All I know it that when I woke up the next morning, she tries to eat me!"

The group looked at each other skeptically, thinking about that before they looked back to him.

Chris held out two hands reassuringly. "Okay, look, take it easy;" he told the man, gently. "We just need answers, that's all. I'm with the BSAA and we want to figure this out just as much as you do. So we don't want any trouble. All we want to do is help you and anyone else that we can, alright?"

The man's eyes began to fill and he moaned in anguish, dropping himself against an ice cream cooler. "I don't know!" he sobbed, rubbing his forehead with one hand. "I don't know!"

Beth looked at Chris. "Okay, he definitely needs our help," she told him. "He won't survive out here in his state."

"I know a good cure-all if this asshole spits out one more thing..." Rose growled, glaring at the shaky man.

Chris nodded and glanced down at his wrist watch. "Yeah, we need to keep moving," he said, "But we don't have much time. We need to keep heading to the airport if we want to get out of here alive. Otherwise, it won't matter."

A sudden scratching sound halted all three of them in their places. The sobbing man sniffled, stopped and glanced up toward a ventilation shaft posted just over his head. Something big moved behind the vented plate, a low hissing filling the air.

"What's that sound?" Chris whispered, eyes wandering over to the others.

Suddenly, the plate flew cleanly off from the screws holding it into place and a thick, wet tentacle shot out of the vent, moving downward, circling the man's throat tightly. He screamed and gagged, his hands releasing their grip on his weapon just as Jill and Chris rushed over to help him.

"What the hell?" Rose cried, horrified.

The four looked up as they played tug-of-war with the poor man in an attempt to free him from whatever it was that had him in their clutches, looking into rows of dagger-like teeth and a fleshy pink brain jutting out from a pinkish, sloth - like head. It was snarling and swiping down with its claws for its prey.

"HELP MEEEE!" the man screamed, through chokes and gags. His face began to turn purple.

Chris aimed his pistol over the man's head and attempted to shoot at the monstrosity that was known as the Licker, attempting to free the poor man from its deadly grip. A bullet struck the Licker's shoulder and the beast let out an unholy scream, but refused to release its prey. Fresh blood oozed out of its shoulder wound and dripped onto their faces.

"Fucking shoot it!" Rose screamed, at Chris.

One final tug and the screaming man was sharply yanked from their grips. They collapsed to the floor from the force and looked back up to the vent, listening to the screams as they faded into choking gurgles and soon, died into nothing.

"Shit!" Chris cried.

The rough, satisfied sounds of the creature feeding on meat spurred them to take shots at the ceiling. A heavy form fell out, hissing and screeching. It was larger than the Licker that Chris had seen in Kijuju; it was built with thick, bone-like armor along its skull and back as well as two other insect-like digits that covered its soft, vulnerable heart.

"Jesus Christ, shoot it!" Beth shouted.

The group fired several rounds at the Licker, tearing into its body as if it were made of paper. It gave a metallic screech and rolled into a shelf. Chris looked up in horror as another Licker climbed its way through the vent, snarling with fury.

"Goddammit, go!" he shouted.

They quickly rushed through the back of the shop, the Lickers hot on their heels. One of them shot out their tongue and circled Jonas by the ankle. He was yanked to the floor with a shout and gritted his teeth, whirling and kicking at the Licker's head several times.

"Why...is...it...always...me?" he chanted, with each fierce kick.

The Licker finally released him with a screech of pain and he scrambled to his feet, following the others out to the back alley, slamming the door behind him.

"Go, go, go!" Rose chanted, pushing at the others to get them to move. "We need to move!"

They hurried down the alleyway and Rose dared a pitiful glance back.

"Shit, there goes my truck..." she muttered.

O

Abbotsford Memorial Airport was empty.

Jonas grunted in irritation, rubbing his shoulders with an infuriated hiss. Beth touched his shoulder. "Hey, you doing okay there, Jonas?" she asked.

He gritted his teeth. "A damn monster with a long, ass tried to bite my head off! HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?" he spat. When he caught her surprised look, he gave her a shamed smile. "Oh, I'm sorry, Beth; today's been a real shitty day."

"It's okay, Jonas," Beth assured him, with a smile and a pat on his back, "We've all had a shitty day."

Chris shook his head. "It's going to get worse before it gets better."

Beth shot him a dirty look. "Do I look like I am in the mood for you?" she snapped.

Rose looked up toward the airfield. "We might be able to use one of the helicopters," she told them.

As they made their way through the airfield, a man appeared in front of them. He was wearing a long black coat, dirty camouflage pants and no shirt. He appeared to stand a little over six feet tall; strong, amazingly muscular and intimidating in appearance. He had a thin, well-trimmed beard and mustache, short hair and long brown bangs that cover his blank, emotionless eyes somewhat.

"Well, took you guys long enough," he hissed, in a cruel sneer.

Chris chuckled with contempt. "Let me guess; you're the guy behind all of this."

The man snorted with a sarcastic smile. "How long did it take for you to figure that out?" he sneered. He gestured to the the city behind them. "I take it you've seen my work." He laughed softly. "Like it? I've been told I have a real knack for music. I call this one, 'Bloody Death in Moonlight-the Gunshot Melody'." The man paused once for dramatic emphasis and chuckled, shrugging his shoulders at their lack of reaction. "Well, I'm working on it."

"Who are you?" Rose demanded.

The man looked at her and she could see a few scars across his face. His lips curled. "I'm was a government lap dog myself once; I'm Major Harry Vanek. Once a soldier boy, now working with a real man's organization." He continued to scrutinize Rose as if she was a horrible thing. "You must be the boss' favorite. I thought I smelled your stink..." Vanek tsked. "I don't know why he likes you so much; there isn't much there to look at anyway."

Chris took a step forward and raised his gun at Vanek. "What does your _boss _want?"

Vanek laughed dryly. "Well, you'll find out pretty soon, buffness." he told him, "Besides, Alex told me I had to bring you in one way or another."

"That's not going to happen!" Chris snapped.

Vanek arched a thick brow. He held up his left hand and revealed that he was missing his middle finger. "You see this hand, big guy? I lost this finger when I plotted a raid through an Afghanistan military camp before they gave my ass the boot for sneaking a little peek at bio weapons on the Black Market. If I could take out over 200 men and only lose a finger out of it, what makes you think you can do better?"

Finally, he began to remove his jacket, exposing a scar-covered muscular form. He reached into his belt and removed something that looked suspiciously like a syringe filled with a blackish fluid. He studied it for a long time, seemingly entranced.

"What are you doing?" Chris demanded.

Vanek raised the needle and removed the covering, chuckling softly. After quickly locating a vein, he smirked at him. "There are way too many people in this world. I'm doing them all a favor." He smiled broadly, almost madly. "I told him that I would bring you to him," he answered, "...And I said, by any means necessary." And with that final word, he plunged the needle into his skin with a loud, powerful roar.

The group winced slightly and watched as a black tar-like substance began to ooze out from the spot where he stuck the needle. It wrapped around his arm and chest, splitting his fingertips that ended into long, jagged claws. His right eye collapsed into his skull and the veins slid out, the end forming a bright red, pupil less eye. The right half of his mouth parted, revealing long, sharp teeth. Vanek roared in a mixture of pain and delight.

"ll kill you..." he groaned, voice slowly starting to change, "So help me, I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Goddammit..." Rose groaned, backing up a few paces. "...Are you kidding me?"

Vanek snarled at her, an inhuman snarling sound much like a rattling of a snake. Then, he grinned and his voice was coarse, the voice box in his throat nearly changed and his voice deepened. He licked his lips and dragged his new claws across the ground, sending sparks through the air.

_"Come on, Rose,"_ he drawled, _"Do you like to play games? If so, I got a real nasty one in store for you!"_

Chris snarled now, raising both hands in a perfect Judo stance. "I got one in mind too!" he spat.

Vanek raised his massive arm and held it over his face to act as a shield as soon as he delivered the kick. The force sent him pushed back a few steps, but the kick merely wriggled the black flesh of his new arm as if it were made of Jell-O. Chris' eyes snapped wide in amazement as his hand swung back, swatting him aside like a fly. He stumbled over her own feet and landed flat on his stomach. Vanek towered over him and grabbed him by the throat with his massive hand.

_"If you open your mouth one more time when I'm talking to you, I'll tear your intestines out through your ass and choke you with them while your bitches watch!"_ he snarled, _"The little bitch is MINE! You won't interfere!"_

He flung Chris aside like refuse and charged for Rose. _"I'm going to tear you to pieces!" _he screamed.

Rose and the others immediately scattered, but Vanek made a beeline for Rose, snarling like a savage animal. His moves thudded against the concrete. _"How dare he create YOU! His favorite creation!"_ he shrieked, _"You will suffer like no other!"_

She was seized by his massive claws and forced into the ground. Jonas and Beth rushed to her aid.

"Get off of her, you ugly son of a-" Beth began.

Vanek back handed her roughly, sending her flying backwards into Jonas. He snarled back at them. "_Piss off, you little shit eater. I ain't done with you yet."_ he spat.

Rose couldn't wriggle free from Vanek's powerful grasp, her teeth clenched in pain and struggle. Her face slowly changed color from pink to purple. Vanek's claws were close to penetrating into the junction of her throat and a shrill scream echoed out of her lips.

Vanek chuckled. _"Having fun, yet?" _he sneered, _"If you'd like, I can kick it up a notch!"_

Chris rushed to her aid and pulled the pin in a grenade. He jammed it deep into Vanek's back and the abomination of a man turned with a furious snarl. _"I'll rip you in half for that, you little bitch!"_ he spat, _"So he-"_

The grenade erupted, sending Vanek screaming backwards. Fortunately, his body had dealt most of the blow, otherwise Rose would have easily taken the full brunt of the damage. She staggered to her feet with Jonas and Beth helping her up. Vanek snarled with fury and hatred. Then, his eyes widened and he threw back his head and shrieked, sending flecks of spittle flying. His left leg began to ripple and bulge, the veins twisting and worming uncontrollably. Thick, black spines erupted from his pant leg, dripping with his blood. His boot shattered as three long claws popped out, flexing and wriggling.

The next transformation stage was horrible to witness as Vanek's screams of pain died down into monstrous howls. His head was twisted so large sets of teeth protruded from the top of the mouth and a pair of mandibles on the sides of his mouth slipped in place of a jaw. Tusk-like appendages slipped out from the area where the neck and the body met. His neck had stretched in length and his face was almost still visible.

_"DIE!"_ Vanek screamed.

When Vanek charged for her, she swung her legs back like a spinning fan, wrapping them tightly around his neck in a backwards choke hold. She struggled to apply a proper twist to snap the bones there, but her angle and subdued head position made it nearly impossible. Vanek countered the move entirely and shoved her from his body. Chris climbed into one of the helicopters to start it up and paused; he watched the scene in shock and disbelief as Rose attempted to physically face Vanek.

_"Hahaha!"_ Vanek snarled, _"You are even weaker than I thought."_

"Don't you ever fucking shut up?" Rose muttered, dodging a swing of his fist.

Jonas fired a round at Vanek's head with his shotgun. Shrapnel and blood went flying and Vanek recoiled with a metallic shriek. Pools of blood dripping from his shattered left eye and he howled after them, blood spewing from his face.

Beth unleashed a barrage of shellfire from her TMP right at Vanek. "I'll show you how we roll in my town, bitch!" she spat. The mutation of a former man had his face shielded from the rain of lead with his giant arm, grunting as each shell ripped into his body.

Vanek drew his clawed arm back and surged forward, footsteps sending waves of thunder through the air and rocking the ground beneath their feet. They scattered to avoid his attacks and Chris started up the helicopter. The blades whirled to life.

Vanek's yellow eyes narrowed furiously and his two jaws pulled upward into a deformed grin.

"Fuck you!" Rose spat.

Vanek snarled. _"Fuck me?"_ he growled, in his horrible voice, _"I'll fuck you, bitch."_ He raised his claws. _"I'll fuck you, and then I'll eat you!"_

Beth and Jonas fired shots from their weapons, shredding at Vanek's body like paper. He gave a roar of pain staggered back, clawed hand clutching his wounded face. Rose moved quickly and delivered a kick to the other side of Vanek's untouched jaw, sending him staggering back further. He looked up entirely too late once the helicopter blades shredded his upper torso to pieces. Chunks of gore and bone sprayed everywhere and the group ducked to avoid getting hit.

Chris panted in shock. "Shit!" he gasped.

They looked up at the sight of several Air Force jets streaking overhead. The group watched them go in horror.

"Shit, shit, we gotta go now!" Jonas shouted.

They climbed into the helicopter and took to the skies. The jets passing overhead dropped their missiles toward the city before banking back around. The group watched the city, horror-stricken. Rose, Beth and Jonas looked at each other.

"Oh God, it's over..." Beth said, softly.

Jonas nodded, his features rigid with sadness. "The city's gone..."

The missile impacts in the center of Newark City, a wave of fire surged and engulfed the entire city and destroying the streets and the buildings. The helicopter flies away as a fiery mushroom cloud blooms and rocks everyone within violently.

Rose snarled. "When we find Alex, he's a dead man..." she vowed.

Chris nodded his head in agreement, features determined. "We'll find him. I promise you that."


	5. Part Five

~O~

**Part Five**

The helicopter passed over the ocean waters.

For the longest time, Rose and the group remained silent during the flight. They could say nothing after what had happened to Newark City. Chris was silent as well; he felt pity for them because he did know what it felt like to lose his home in Raccoon City as well. But there was nothing more than could be done except to move forward. And his PDA began to beep, interrupting the moment of silence between them.

He looked down and noticed-much to his surprise-that it was Jill. "Jill? Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded on the small screen. _"I'm fine, Chris. I'm in Cyprus now." _she told him, _"I heard about Newark City. What the hell happened?"_

Chris shut his eyes briefly with a small sigh. "It's gone. Newark City's off the map."

Jill's eyes widened. _"Oh God, were there any survivors?"_

Chris nodded and looked up as Rose joined his side and took the PDA. "Hey, I don't want to break up your little sewing circle you two have here," Rose told her, "but to answer your question, my friends and I are alive."

Jill nodded reluctantly. _"Are you Rose Bedford?"_

"Yeah." Rose said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm supposed to be the person involved in the Wesker Project." She laughed angrily and glanced briefly back at her two friends, who watched her with pain and worry before looking back at Jill. "You'd better be right about this. If my life is somehow one big fucked up lie, I want to know now. If you're wrong, then you think the world's shitty now? Your world will end up looking like hell on Earth when I get done with the both of you."

Jill was calm the entire time, much to Chris' surprise. _"You're not the only one who's lost people close to you, Rose." _she told her, watching the woman bow her head, attempting to keep herself from crying, _"I have lost more than my share of friends and comrades. You're somehow important to Alex. That's all we know. When we find him, everything will be clear. And Alex will be brought to justice for everything he's done."_

"I was a simple scientist," Rose snapped, "I know that's hard to believe, but I had a simple life. Shit was going great for me up until now! _WHY NOW_?!"

Jill stared at her gently. _"What do you want me to say?" _she asked, quietly, _"It won't change anything. It's already done. We can only move forward. I know what kind of pain you're going through, Rose. Trust me."_

Rose handed the PDA back to Chris with a bitter chuckle. "Pain? You don't know a thing about pain." She moved to the back of the helicopter and curled up in one of the seats, muttering coldly under her breath. "Stupid bitch..."

Chris sighed and looked down at Jill. "Sorry, Jill; she's not talking right now. We're on our way to the South Seas islands. Alex might be there." he told her, "Now why are you in Cyprus? I thought that town was abandoned in the 80's."

_"It was," _Jill said, _"But I've uncovered some interesting information about a legend of the town and the reason it was abandoned."_

"Go on." Chris said.

_"There was rumors in 1978 that a creature was living in the sewers; they called it the Cyprus Beast. Some say he was a man but sources strongly suggest that it may be someone infected who's lived there since then. Most people who pass through the town never make it out alive. I'm going to see if I can find this guy and squeeze some information out of him. I have a feeling he might know something about our friend Alex."_

Chris knotted his brow, worried. "Be careful. Please."

Jill smiled and nodded. _"You too."_

The connection ended and Chris looked back at Rose. "I need to know something, Rose," he said, "Everything up until this point."

Rose snorted with contempt. "About me?"

"Yeah."

Rose sighed and Chris could hear that she was slightly relenting to his requests. "My dad. He worked for the Umbrella Coporation. Charles Bedford was his name. I'm sure you've done your little digging and learned about that." When Chris gave a small nod, she chuckled softly before continuing. "I was eight years old then. Outside, collecting fireflies that night." She slowly smiled, seemingly lost in the memory as she stared off into space. "Dad was inside getting dinner started. I had a lot of fireflies in my jar to show Beth. That's when I heard it, the gunshot. I ran inside, even though my heart was pounding a hundred miles an hour to find my dad. When I got in, the front door was open and there were things tossed all over the floor. I looked around for him, but I couldn't find him anywhere. That was until I noticed the...blood. He was in his study, lying in a pool of his own blood. He'd been shot in the head.

I couldn't move, at first. It became difficult to breathe and my world...I was losing control of everything. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. All I could feel was hatred, hatred at who could have done this and why I wasn't there to stop it. And that was then that I heard it. He was going through my father's things; I guess looking for anything of value that he could take and run." Her smile disappeared. "His back was to me, so it would be easy to sneak up onto him." Her voice started to change, became taut with pain. "There it was. I was so close...I wanted to do the unthinkable. I wanted to kill him, hurt him, tear him to pieces. And finally, he turned and I shoved the shard into his cheek as hard as I could. He screamed, of course and kicked me in the stomach. I hit the wall harder than I ever had in my entire life and I knew that I had broken a few ribs and my leg in the process. I could feel them snapping like small twigs.

Well, I don't think the man liked what I did very much and he took the shard from his cheek and stabbed it into my shoulder." She paused to watch Chris tense when she said that. Clearly he was disturbed and the others were watching with equal pain.

"I don't like hearing this," Jonas said, miserably.

Chris however, furrowed his brows, as if he was thinking of something that could help Rose figure out why such a thing had happened to her 'father'. But she continued with her story and didn't even look up at him. There was more to it and he knew that it would only get worse.

"Well, I somehow made it to my father's side, even though I was in a world of pain. I thought that I was going to die, and if I was, I wanted to be near him before it happened. I wanted to call for help, but I was afraid that if I moved anymore, I'd slip away from him. It became unbearable, horrible, but death would not come. Every time I thought that my weakened breath was my last, I still lived. Death stayed away from me and it seemed that no matter how much I wanted to give up, my anger wouldn't let me.

I didn't know that I had been lying there for days. It took some time and I finally woke up into the hospital. I wasn't sure how I had gotten there, but I had bandages and a cast on my arm and left leg. There were flowers at my bedside and I took the card, hoping that it would have been from my father, hoping that I had a nightmare and just fell out of a tree. But it wasn't. He was dead and somehow, I had been sent to the hospital. Only, I found out later that Beth's mother had found me. She came by the house to offer to have a sleepover because Beth had been asking about it all week. When she found me, I was barely alive.

The doctors told me I was very lucky to have survived. The police were tracing the assailant and doing everything that they could to find him. Well, they never did. In fact, if I had seen his face, it would have helped a great deal to them. But I hadn't. To this day, I still don't even know anything and any reason as to why he'd kill my father. A month or so passed of psychological evaluation and treatment and I was ready to go back to school. Things were different there too.

No one made fun of me like they usually did. I didn't get spit balls, drive-by pelting. Nothing. I didn't speak a word. I knew that I should have, but whenever I opened my mouth to speak, all that would come out was a dry squeak. It was difficult to study because every time I'd try to write, all I'd see was blood. Eventually, I soon made myself forget about that day. I kept the memory of my father's death alive, but how it had transpired, I soon forgot. It became easier because after months of silence, I found my voice again and things went back to normal."

Chris frowned thoughtfully. "Did you ever find out who he was?"

Rose nodded her head gravely. "Yeah. Supposedly, his name was Todd Farley," she said, "Worked for Umbrella as far as I was told. I guess my dad did something to piss them off."

"Umbrella would not require to silence anyone unless your father had any thought to try and stop them," Chris told her, "What was your father getting involved with? Do you know?"

Rose knotted her brow. "I don't remember much of anything, Redfield."

"Then what can you tell us about the virus?"

Rose sighed and straightened. "I don't know anything about this virus," she told him, "My knowledge in virology always deduces that a virus-even one as powerful as the Tyrant Virus-takes months for it to spread to this level. It would need to adapt and change to its environment. The only way that could have happened is if the virus was planted somehow earlier."

"The increase in city crime proves that it has." Beth argued.

"But that doesn't explain how we've never seen anything out of sorts," Rose snapped, "Unless someone knew something we didn't."

Chris nodded his head grimly. "That's ALWAYS what goes on."

"Where do we go from here?" Jonas asked, quietly.

"To Alex." Rose answered. "To make that bastard pay for what he's done."

O

Jill approached the small down of Cyprus, observing the eerie silence that greeted her. The windows of the shops had been covered in various signs and wood, some that read: "CLOSED" or "MOVED". The town appeared to be frozen in time; never moving forward. It was like a town trapped in shadow, isolated from the rest of the world. Jill saw no one living among the streets, gloomy buildings and tattered walls.

She kept her weapon trained on the shadows and looked up at the sight of a derelict hospital in the distance. There appeared to be lights flickering from the windows of what she could tell were candles. Intrigued, she slowly made her way toward the building.

Jill entered the hospital and much to her horror, found it filled with trash, gruesome scenes of what remains of human bones and bloody tools of were various news clippings pinned to the walls and messages scrawled everywhere. Flies buzzed about and she had to cough and breathe through her mouth to keep from throwing up from the smell. She had seen horrible before and this ranked right up there.

Above her, a small male shape crouched inside of the ventilation system; a black hand had cradled in it a whistle clenched tightly in hand and drawn close to a set of scarred, glistening lips. The figure grinned, revealing long, sharp teeth and brought the whistle up to his lips, blowing harshly.

There was no sound audible to Jill's own ears, but she could suddenly make out the sounds of fierce animal snarls in the distance. She whirled and spotted several grizzly dogs of every shape and size appear down the length of the hall behind her. Jill gave a frustrated curse and sprinted to get away from them. She didn't know if they were infected or not, but she didn't want to remain to find out. She ran down the dark halls and hurried down a flight of stairs, slamming the doors shut behind her.

The dogs snarled and clawed wildly at the doors. Jill ran down the stairs and found herself in the cafeteria. Many tables had been pushed against the wall and meathooks dangled from the ceiling. There were splashes of brown blood stains that lined the walls, paintings of words that made no sense to her, sentences and hand prints. There were knives, meat hooks and other sharp objects shoved into the walls, ceiling and even several blood-drenched bodies, pinning them there. Decapitated heads lined shelf after shelf in a gruesome display of gore and pain. There were also a few glowing lanterns lined the shelves, floors and seemed to cover various tables and chairs. She cautiously observed her surroundings for a few moments more before a laugh filled the air.

"I smelled you coming in. Oh, you smell positively delicious..."

Jill whirled and immediately turned her weapon toward the voice as soon as it filled the air. There was movement behind an overturned table. "Hey, come on out of there right now!" she ordered, "Come out of there, you sick son-of-a-bitch so I can see you!"

After a long and uncomfortable pause, the shape rose from behind the table, a man clad in a dark gray hoodie jacket with tears and rips in it. He also wore a pair of blue jeans with various rips and tape wrapped around the legs. Around his neck dangled long white things that looked suspiciously like rib bones, but at the distance, it was difficult to judge. His head was shaved bald beneath the hood and several scars outlined the crown of his skull. His lips, face and neck were covered in old and fresh stitch marks with scars as well.

Jill could tell that where he stood, he was probably only four feet tall. He had long, dirt encrusted nails that looked like claws and he had no shoes, but his feet ended in dangerous, jagged talons that almost looked like they could have belonged to a Licker.

The "man" smiled at her and it made his face looked frightening. It took a few moments of silence before Jill spoke up, surprise and unease in her voice.

"You...You're blind..." she breathed.

The man stopped in his place and tilted his head to one side, fascinated with the observation from the woman. Sure enough, the vacant empty blue pools reflected nothing but a perpetual blankness. Yet even though he seemed to have been staring away through her, the man also seemed to know EXACTLY where she were standing.

"That's right, sweet little girl, I am blind," the man whispered, licking his lips. "But despite such an...unfortunate medical setback, I can still see you standing right there." And with that, he pointed a finger directly at her, proving his point.

Jill didn't react, save for a small murmur of unease.

"'Necessity brings HER here, not pleasure'." the man quoted; he chuckled softly and his vacant stare seemed to flicker with an intense fire now, "My pets would love to meet you. Please, come in, stay a while..."

"Are you...Karl Taylor?" Jill asked, keeping her weapon trained on him.

The man smiled. "That's what they would call me," he purred. He laughed quietly at her unsettled expression. "I know why you're here. They want you to end my life, don't they?" He held up a finger. "Ahh. But you won't do so for that reason. You won't kill me simply for some act of righteousness. No, you'll kill me because you find me repulsive as they had. It's the natural human mentality in you, Jill; to be disgusted by something like me." He smiled and stared upward. "Ahh, and they say that I am a madman..."

Jill shook her head. "It's what has to be, Karl," she told him, "You can surrender willingly and it won't have to come to that."

Karl tsked in disdain and shook his head. "Such blind arrogance..." he sighed; "Anyway, I despise guns. They are so...boring. They leave nothing to the imagination." He slowly removed what appeared to be a whistle from his jacket pocket. "'This miserable state is borne by the wretched souls of those who lived without disgrace and without praise'." He chuckled softly, bringing the whistle to his lips. "You see, Miss Valentine; there is a fine line that separates us. You want that line thinking that all your efforts will mean something in the end. Just what are you trying to prove, Jill? That we're all destined to die eventually?"

Finally, he blew the whistle.

No sound emerged as far as she could hear, but she looked around and noticed several dogs stepping out of the shadows. Through the dim light, she could see their jutting ribcages, pale white eyes and drooling, rotted teeth. They didn't appear to be infected from what she could tell, but malnourished to the point of insanity.

"You're a sick bastard!" Jill spat, glaring at Karl with disgust.

Karl chuckled with amusement. "The concept of good and evil has always been amusing to me," he said, "How many blind men and women have passed through my territory with such arrogant boasts to tell." He raised his hand before snapping his fingers.

All around Jill, the dogs surged at her with fierce snarls. She quickly jumped onto a table and delivered shots to each one, taking them out with ease. But Karl moved swiftly and charged at her. She gave a sharp cry as she was hit full force by his surprisingly powerful kick and sent sliding across the floor, into the wall behind her. Jill winced and watched as the remaining dogs circled her, growling menacingly. Karl loomed over her.

"Do not allow your arrogance to cloud your judgement, my friend. Just because I am a blind man standing before you, seemingly weak and helpless doesn't mean that I cannot see you." he sneered, "Every breath you take, every click you make, I can see you clearly. It could equate to that of the sonar of a common bat, you see." He bent down and seized her jaw tightly in one hand. "I find that screaming and begging works my appetite."

"Goddamn freak!" Jill shrieked, struggling to kick him from her, but he was too strong for her to fight back. She never would have guessed it given his weak, sickly appearance.

Karl leaned forward and dragged his disgusting tongue up the length of her chin, smacking his lips and savoring her like a piece of meat. Jill shut her eyes tight and moaned in disgust. After a moment, he met her eyes with a pitiless laugh to follow.

"'Words are mere sound and smoke, dimming the heavenly light'..." he quoted, "'Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this'."

Jill swung her legs and delivered a kick to Karl's midsection. This threw the man off and she attempted to shoot him, but he ducked and rolled behind the tables. Several dogs charged at Jill and she kicked them away with ease. Their bodies tumbled across the floors and into walls. As Jill attempted to recover, Karl lunged at her from another spot in the cafeteria. She quickly whirled and squeezed several rounds into Karl's chest. He tumbled to the floor in a flurry of limbs.

Jill carefully approached the man; he was breathing heavily and blood was starting to pool beneath him. His hands shook over the wounds, but he was grinning widely, as if they were of no consequence to him.

"What the hell are you?" Jill demanded.

Karl hissed sharply, spitting out a mouthful of blood before he looked up at her. "H-He created me..." he told her, laughing weakly, "He gave me a purpose...A purpose to take the lives of the ones who tried to kill me..."

"Who?" Jill snapped.

Karl laughed dryly, spitting up more blood. "Alex..."

Jill bent down and grabbed him by his jacket, bringing his hideous face close to hers. "Tell me what he wants!"

Karl laughed at her before it died down and his body seized up. His eyes rolled up into his head and he was still. Jill released him and stood up. She looked momentarily disgusted before a look of sympathy touched her face.

"Poor deluded creature..." she said, quietly.

Then, she turned and walked away, leaving with this new knowledge in tow. Karl had been a Wesker prototype all along. God only knew just how many Alex had "created" and how many were still alive out there.

O

The sight of the island facility appeared over the horizon.

Chris' eyes hardened and he looked back at the others; Jonas was sleeping and drooling on Beth's shoulder. Rose was watching the sky through the windows when she looked up at him, noticing that he was suddenly attentive.

"We're here," he said.

Rose approached the main console and stared down, spotting the facility below. "It'll be guarded," she told him, "We'll have to land somewhere out of sight." She clenched her fists tightly. "I can't wait to get my hands around his throat!"

Beth snapped awake and grimaced, looking around before she glared down at Jonas and gave his face a slight smack. He awoke with a snort and blinked, looking around dazed. "Uh, no mom..." he muttered, sleepily, "I don't want cupcakes." He looked around and began to regain his senses to the real world. "Oh shit, are we here?"

Rose gestured to a series of smaller islands away from the facility. "Drop us there so they won't see us."

Chris nodded in agreement and slowly, carefully brought the helicopter down into a clearing on one of the small islands. Once the rotorblades whirled down, they climbed out and took a moment to observe their surroundings. It was peaceful and quiet and most of all, there were no signs of the undead or monsters. There was a small cave nearby and Rose and her friends quickly made their way into it while Chris worked on covering the helicopter with tree branches and leaves.

"It's really quiet," Rose said, casting her gaze to the ocean waters, "That's just too weird. You'd think that for an Umbrella-controlled facility, it'd be swarming with assholes and elbows."

Jonas shook his head. "Hey, at least it's safe for now."

Beth and Rose exchanged the map that Rose had shown Chris.

"Yeah, for all we know. Don't jinx it." Beth muttered.

Chris gathered a flashlight from the helicopter and they crowded around the map. For a moment, they simply observed it, attempting to gather some kind of plan on what they could do to attack Alex's facility without any problems.

"He's got to have guards stationed everywhere," Chris said, "We need a backway in. Somewhere that won't be guarded."

Jonas frowled, licking his lips thoughtfully before pointing at the map, "What about this drain system?" he suggested, "I don't think anybody's going to make passes through the shit pipe."

Chris nodded his head. "Okay. That might be a good idea. I'll radio headquarters for backup."

Beth scoffed. "After that asshole tried to ditch us? You're joking, right?"

"We have to do something!"

Chris sighed and shook his head with dismay before looking at Rose. "Listen. You don't seem like the kind of person we had to deal with with Wesker," he told her, "I know they want you dead, but if you can somehow prove to them-"

Rose snorted. "I can take it all in stride, Redfield," she snapped, "People are stupid anyway."

"That kind of attitude made Albert Wesker into what he was."

Rose snorted and gave him a dirty look. "Oh you're lost, Redfield! I'm a scientist! I'm not out to rule anyone!" she snapped, "Do you really think I care about being someone's pet queen or something? Noooo..." She grunted and straightened in her spot. "For fuck's sake, get over that issue with Albert Wesker. The asshole's dead and gone."

They continued to argue before Rose glanced toward the dark ocean waters, furrowing her brows. Her lack of attention caused the others to start talking regarding a plan to sneak into the facility and she barely even listened. Something didn't seem right about the undulating waves. They moved in an unnatural way that shouldn't have been. She continued to watch the water before standing and raising a hand to the arguers.

"Hey, shut up a second!" she snapped.

They stopped and looked up at Rose as she focused on the water suspiciously. The water started bubbling wildly as if it were heating up to a great extreme. Everyone backed away from the edge of the shore as a shape suddenly shot up, towering over them and blotting out the very light of the moon. All faces that gazed up at the thing before them were suddenly slack-jawed and wide-eyed with absolute horror.

The creature threw back its head and roared. The roar was horrible; it resembled the eerie pitch of a human-like scream. It was a mutation of injections, that was certain, but nothing that they had seen so far. Its forelegs arched out of its back like spiders legs, its back legs were set on enormous haunches, thick and powerful. The arms of the creature were almost human-like at the hands save for long, sword - like claws. Its head was long and appeared to be eyeless in the shadows but when the lightning lit the sky, it was easy to tell that they were a dull yellow. Along its bony-white back were expansive, throbbing red veins, coming out of the skin and running like thick black hairs to the back which were actually enormous pincer-like talons.

It has retracted pincers at the side of head that seemed to spread as it snarled. It was bone white and when it looked down at them, the left half of its face was almost a human-like skull with patches of hair covering that half of its head.

And it looked ready to kill them all.

"Holy shit!" Jonas gasped, "What the fuck is that?"

Dripping from the water and algae, the creature leaned down and bared its sharp teeth in a wicked hissing sound. Everyone stared back at the empty pools of yellow warily, unsure of what to do with the limited ammunition that they had.

The group had no time to react because the monster pounced with a roar. Screaming, they split in seperate directions to avoid being crushed by its massive limbs. Much to their relief, the lumbering beast was quite slow and clumsy in its approach and it gave them just enough time to start shooting. Their bullets shredded through the creature's thick hide, drawing pained, metallic screeches from its smapping jaws.

Rose attempted to stagger to the side to avoid its tendrils, but one of them encircled her leg, yanking her into the air.

"Rose!" Jonas shouted.

Rose was lifted toward the bone-like face of the monster before its head suddenly shuddered. It split down the sides, cracking and folding back; much to her disgust and revealed another inner skull that looked eerily human with its lower jaw missing and wide, yellow eyes glaring at her. Its fangs dripped with saliva and Rose struggled, removing her handgun and taking several shots at its face. The monster screamed out and released her.

Rose fell to the ground with a low grunt of pain and quickly staggered to her feet. Chris rushed at its side, taking his knife and tearing into the creature's leg. It gave another fierce scream and bullets continued peppering its body. The others soon rushed into the fray with what little ammunition and weapons that they had.

The creature screamed in blood-curdling agony and it seemed to squeeze its eyes shut in a human-like grimace. It bent its entire spine backwards, landing on both hands until it faced Rose completely. It was horrible; every movement, every gesture that this...thing made was an expression of pain and suffering. Rose backed away a few paces at the monster leered down at her, bringing its muzzle so close that she could smell the decay and the rotten scent of flesh from its mouth. Glancing up at the corner of her eyes, Rose noticed that it was watching her with an angry, almost human scowl.

"Shit ... " she heard Jonas whisper, "What's it doing? What's it doing?"

Rose backed up some more and it clicked its massive jowls at her once. She remained in place, frowning up at the monster in confusion. What was it doing? It brought its massive nostrils close and took a heavy inhale. The sound practically reverberated throughout her eardrums. Rose was stunned to watch as its scowl relaxed entirely and for the very first time, she could see a partial human expression of the creature's face; pain.

Rose blinked once to see if she was imagining things before she glanced over to the side and noticed that Jonas was coiled up tightly in the creature's tail. She glared up at the monster and tried something; something completely insane.

"Put him down," she ordered.

The monster glanced back and the grip that it had on Jonas' body loosened, allowing for him to fall to the ground with a sharp grunt. Everyone watched the scene with shock and amazement. They were too stunned to really act anymore. Now there was only this moment between man and monster. Rose continued to stare into its eyes, her body trembling and the world seemed to have stopped just to this specific point in time.

A soft, trilling moan escaped the creature's jaws; it was a heart-wrenching experience for Rose to endure such a sound. A look of recollection touched its eyes, one that Rose didn't understand, but still felt her heart twist.

Her thoughts were interrupted as it opened its mouth and spoke. _"R...Rooooosseee..."_

The three watched as Rose reached up with two hands and began to stroke the creature's muzzle lovingly. Its tongue slithered out from its jaws and caressed her cheek, her hair and her neck, sticky strands of saliva drenching her. Chris grimaced with disgust at the gesture whereas Beth and Jonas glanced quickly at one another. No one spoke or tried to stop it. Rose behaved as if she was embracing a loved one that she had long since lost.

The monster made soft, sorrowful moans and Rose smiled sorrowfully. "I know you..." she whispered, tears threatening to pour from her eyes, "This is insane, but I know you..."

It hissed at her before she looked up into its dull gaze. _"Kill me..."_ it begged, _"Please...kill me..."_

The slit pupils seemed to expand into a perfect human circle and hot tears streamed down the monster's eyes before the lids slowly closed. Rose drew back her weapon and gnawing her lower lip, took a final shot at the creature's head.

Blood gushed from the monster's skull from the shattered spot where it had suffered the brain trauma. It threw its head back with a roar of agony and slowly crumpled to earth. Everyone had been rocked from the impact of the toppled creature. It lay there in a heap, last breath escaping, its eyes blinking slowly as Rose watched the last life of the creature slipping away with each shallow breath.

The mud and rushing water at Rose's feet ran red with blood and chunks of brain matter. She stared down at it for a long time as it formed a wicked pool of crimson death at her feet. She slowly looked back up at the creature and finally, she walked over to it and knelt down, resting her head against its monstrous stomach. Blood had begun to flow through her jacket, but she didn't care. She stayed with the dying beast for its final heaving breaths.


	6. Part Six

~O~

**Part Six**

"We need to move."

Rose was coldly observing the corpse of the fallen monster that had once been her mother. She hadn't moved, even when Chris spoke and barely reacted when Beth put a hand on her shoulder to offer her comfort.

"Come on, girl," Beth said, smiling, "Let's get this asshole."

Rose nodded silently and they turned, noticing Chris staring at the facility in the distance through a pair of binnoculars. There were many guards standing on the watchtowers and walkways, armed to the tooth with assault rifles and shotguns. Below the enormous walls were rows of undead crowding through grass and trees. They bumped lifelessly into one another and stumbled over things that happened to be in their way. Chris slowly lowered the binoculars and his eyes were wide in shock.

"Holy shit ... " he whispered.

There was a beeping sound and Chris looked down, picking up his phone and bringing the screen on. Claire's face appeared and he smiled in relief, glad to see that his sister was good and in one piece.

"Claire!" he exclaimed, "Where are you?"

_"We're on our way to your location," _Claire told him, _"Leon and I brought some backup."_

Chris frowned and shook his head. "No. No, no, no. You keep out of this. You need to stay safe, we can handle this from here."

Claire looked up and Chris noticed Ivan appear in the screen. His brow knotted at the sight of the larger man standing there beside his sister. Jonas and the others also looked surprised to see him as well. He was huge!

"Wow. It's not every day you see dudes taller than God." Jonas remarked.

_"My team and I will offer our lives to destroy this Umbrella menace," _Ivan assured Chris, _"Your sister is in good hands. There is no need for concern."_

Chris scoffed in disbelief. "No need for concern?" he demanded, "I know what you are, Ivan. I know you're one of those Wesker freaks!"

Ivan didn't react to the insult save for a chuckle and a shake of his head. _"Comrade Chris, do you know what sound the lungs make after you break someone's neck completely around their shoulders?"_ he asked him, _"No? For your sake, let's keep it a secret." _

Rose snickered. "Hah. Nice one, big guy."

Claire looked up at Ivan and shook her head with dismay at the argument. _"Oh will you two grow up, you babies?"_ she muttered, _"We have more important things to deal with right now."_ She looked serious now. _"Okay. We're on our way to the island now. Sasha's working on something that might short out their communications so they can't pinpoint out location or track any one of us while we're talking over our phones."_

Chris frowned. "Who's Sasha?" he asked.

Sasha poked his face into view. _"I'm Sasha." _he muttered, before disappearing again.

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose with a weary groan. "Okay, we're going to enter the facility through the drain system," he told them, "Once we're inside, we'll deal with the guards."

_"Don't worry. We have this under control." _Claire assured him, _"This is it."_

Chris nodded. "Last time."

oOo

Chris and his group wandered toward a drain pipe; it was large enough for them to stand in. Their eyes wandered toward the building walls and pipes where various vines had shot up and ensnared most of the side of the facility. There was something particularly strange about these vines. They were yellow in color and the leaves were violet with little red stripes. They were definitely not natural. But then again, nothing having to do with Umbrella was natural.

Suddenly, they held their noses against the smell.

"Oh God, what is that?" Jonas groaned, "That's not just water."

Chris wasn't holding his nose, but he visibly wrinkled it. "Ugh, I guess water's not the only thing they drain out through here."

Beth and Rose looked at them both and gestured with a flick of their heads. The two men stared at each other skeptically and entered the sewer first. The women chuckled to themselves and followed behind them, switching on their flashlights.

Jonas looked at Rose as they walked through the ankle-deep water. "You know we're going to probably die down here," he told her.

Rose shook her head angrily. "I won't die. Not until I take that bastard with me."

Jonas blinked and thought about that for a moment. "So...you're cool with dying no matter what?"

Chris sighed impatiently and whirled on him. "Is everything a complete joke with you?" he demanded.

"Just the things that I find completely hysterical," Jonas shot back, annoyed, "Like you."

Beth stepped in between them to prevent a fight. "Look, you need to keep it together before I have to hit somebody," she warned. They were sislent for a moment, contemplating her words and she sighed. "We're not happy about this, but we need to keep our heads together and do whatever it takes to handle it. If Jonas' jokes are what it takes for him to deal with this mess, then I say let him joke as much as he wants." She arched her brows impishly at Chris. "And if you being an asshole is how you deal with it, good for you."

Chris was not entirely thrilled with her attitude. "Joking about something serious-"

Something suddenly moved behind him and Beth's anger drained away. Jonas and Rose had seen it as well and Chris turned, sensing that there was a potential threat in the sewer with them. They shined their flashlights through the shadows and tunnels around them before Chris turned down a tunnel path and immediately aimed his weapon at a man cringing away from the light, holding up his hands to avoid them.

"We have a civilian!" Chris whispered.

The man was dressed in a long, filthy trench coat and had on a pair of dirty blue jeans with no shirt or shoes. They could see jutting, bony ribs beneath his coat. His feet were drenched in sludge and the nails long and jagged, almost like claws and had long, white hair. He eventually looked up at them through his bangs. His eyes were sunken and bright gold, filled with fright. He also had a chalkboard hanging from around his neck. When Chris and the others reacted with shock, the man held up two hands.

"Who are you?" Chris demanded.

The man looked at him, but said nothing. Beth knotted her brow and approached him, gesturing to the chalkboard. "Can you tell us your name?" she asked gently. She paused and tilted her head. "Do you understand what we're saying?" The man nodded and glanced at Chris with unease. Beth caught the reason for his fear and frowned at Chris. "Can you lower that just a little bit?"

Chris reluctantly lowered his weapon.

"So you can't talk?" Rose asked the man.

He rapidly shook his head and gestured to his neck, showing them a horrible patch of scarring aroung his throat and chest where it appeared a wound had attempted to heal. Whatever it was, it had been violent.

"I guess you use the chalkboard, right?" Rose asked again.

Once more, he nodded. He added a weak smile afterwards.

Beth tilted her head with intrigue. "What's your name?" she asked.

The man slowly lowered his hands and held up one finger, indicating that they wait as he scribbled something on the chalkboard with a piece of chalk. When he was done, he held it up to them. The name written on it was "WILLIAM". His handwriting was terrible.

"William, huh?" Jonas said, "You got a last name?"

William hesitated with a reluctant look on his face, but eventually nodded and scribbled another name before holding the board up. It now read: "WILLIAM WESKER". That earned surprised reactions from them all, especially Chris.

"You're a Wesker?" he gasped.

William smiled weakly at him and nodded again. He held out his wrist and showed them a burned number 8 on it; it was an old tattoo that had been formed and looked like he'd had it for a long time. It was faded a bit with age. Everyone leaned forward to see and Chris eventually began to understand it. He recalled the list of Wesker children that he had received when infiltrating Spencer's estate with Jill man years ago and learned of their names.

"Rose, how come you don't have one of those numbers?" Jonas asked, looking at his friend.

"Because she wasn't one of the original Thirteen Wesker children," Chris answered for him. He blinked in disbelief and stared at William; this man hadn't aged a single day. He looked to be in his mid twenties, if not early thirties. "You were labeled dead on the research papers."

William shook his head rapidly and scribbled on the chalkboard again.

_THEY LIED._

"Who lied?" Rose asked, "Alex?"

William looked at her and wrote. He continued doing this with each of their questions; scribbling and erasing on the back of his coat sleeve.

_YES._

Chris frowned. "Why?"

_KEEP US FOR HIMSELF._

"Then what are you doing here?" Jonas asked.

_ESCAPED. HIDING FROM HIM._

"Can you take us up there?" Chris asked, pointing up with one finger.

William grimaced and shook his head.

"Why not?"

He quickly scribbled on the board. _AFRAID. THEY HURT ME._

The group looked somewhat sympathetic; Chris did not, however. He wanted results and he wasn't about to sympathize with a Wesker child, victim or not. That was just not how things worked and it led to someone getting hurt in the end.

"We need to get up there," he told the man, "Whatever you know will help us. We're here to put an end to Alex."

William made a face at that, a forlorn expression that displayed all his sadness and bitterness. He wrote once more.

_NO HOPE. _

"There's always hope!" Chris spat, taking a step forward; it caused William to back up on reflex, "But we can't achieve anything unless you help us. Tell us where we need to go and we can stop him for you."

William looked at Rose and nodded his head, faintly smiling. He gestured with a flick of his head for them to follow and they did. As they walked, Rose looked at William and managed a smile. He caught her look and seemed a bit embarrassed.

"Sorry," she told him, "It's just nice to see I'm not the only freak."

William actually grinned and nodded in agreement. He picked up his chalkboard and scribbled something before holding it up to her.

_BEAUTIFUL ROSE. _

It was the first time that Rose actually blushed.

"Thank you..." she said.

oOo

Chris peered up through the grate; he could see no one around and kicked it off completely. It clattered to the ground and he climbed up, helping Beth and Rose up and then Jonas. They waited for William and the man waved them away.

"Come on, William," Rose urged.

Chris shook his head. "Let him go," he said, "We need to get moving."

Rose gave William a parting look of sadness before she stood up. He quickly rushed off and the group stood up, observing their surroundings. It appeared that they had stepped into a laboratory of some kind; there were tools scattered about on tables and papers were thrown all over the floor. Chris walked up to the tables and gathered up some of the papers. He furrowed his brow and Beth approached him; she caught the odd look.

"What is it?" she asked.

She picked up a collection of schematics. They looked to be drawings of a satellite, but it was unlike the one that had been viewing them from space. This one was ominous in appearance; it resembled a metallic disk that indicated various feedback antenna and tubes. Beth placed the schematics back onto the table before she picked up a few more documents. One intrigued her specifically. It was a paper that discussed something regarding the "Genesis" Project.

_It has been confirmed that the accident at the_

_Bedford Estate was due to the_

_involvement of Spencer with Genesis specimen number RB-G101_

_(hereafter referred to as Rose Bedford). With the death of Charles,_

_Rose is going to go through mental trauma. Despite_

_Spencer's paranoia, this will work as planned._

_Rose is still so very young, she has much to learn about_

_suffering and disappointment. Her mind will become that much more fertile_

_for manipulation. The Genesis Project will proceed according to plan._

_Albert and Rose both possess the perfect genetics,_

_they will no doubt become the Adam and Eve of this world._

_Spencer is simply just a pitiful fool who has already_

_suffered the whims and sins of this world. How he had_

_survived such a long time in his mortal form is certainly_

_beyond even my recognition._

_However, take note, dear comrades, you will become a part_

_of this as well as any other in the Great Scheme of Life._

_I eagerly await your responses, gentleman._

_Umbrella Information Department_

_Alex W._

Beth furrowed her brow. This was about Rose and Charles Bedford the day after he had died. Good God, there was so much about her dear friend that they planned on doing and Wesker was-or HAD been-a part of it too. It wasn't just a matter of using them both, they wanted to make them into the perfect breeding vessels. It was sick. It was so sick! The next paper in her hands held a seal of the Umbrella Corporation, but it was merely a transportation record of various test specimens.

"Hey, did you find anything?" Rose called, from across the room; she was watching through the window of the doors, making sure that no one came in.

Beth nodded. "Yeah, I might have. It's about you."

Rose frowned and walked up to her, taking the document and reading it silently. As she did, Chris made his way around the laboratory to check for anything else that would be useful. He stopped in front of a few tubes filled with liquid that appeared to house human beings within. His eyes widened when he realized who they looked like.

"Hey..." he said. He looked over his shoulder and beckoned to the others. "Hey, come here!"

They approached the sight of the containers and studied the humans housed inside. They appeared to be in cryosleep. Jonas glanced down and noticed numbers on their wrists.

"Hey, look at that," he told them, "They got numbers on their arms like the other guy."

Chris nodded his head gravely. "Yes. They go up to eleven. Wesker was the thirteenth."

Rose frowned. "So who was the twelfth?"

As if on cue, a voice filled the intercom systems throughout the laboratories. It was soft, creamy and almost dreamlike. _"ATTENTION. WE ARE FORTUNATE TO HAVE OURSELVES GUESTS ON OUR ISLAND. PLEASE, TREAT THEM COURTEOUSLY AND BRING THEM TO ME ALIVE."_

Chris' eyes narrowed. "Alex."

oOo

Meanwhile, several of the facility's guards stood outside an elevator and they had their weapons trailed on the doors, waiting for them to open so that they could blast the intruders coming up. A few more joined in.

"The target's are in the elevator. Shut it down now!"

The elevator car shook once more and then came to a stop. The voices of the guards could be faintly heard on the other side. They sounded anxious and frantic.

"Get those doors open."

"You do it!"

"That's a direct order, soldier! And get a squad up on there."

Outside, two of the guards pried the doors open with their guns and as soon as they did, the elevator car plummeted right down the shaft and crashed to the bottom below. The watching armed men stared after it, stunned.

"Wow, that was pretty easy."

"Yeah, no shit."

"Bitch fell like a rock."

"Are they dead?"

"Puh. If he wasn't before, he sure as hell is now."

Inside the elevator shaft, Ivan and his group were hanging along the sides, clinging to a ladder. Mikhail looked down at Ivan and gave him an indicating nod. He acknowledged and scaled the upper part of the doorway until he dangled upside down and stuck his head out at the guards. They recoiled with sharp cries and aimed their guns at him, startled. He smiled at them all.

"_Dobry den_ (Good day)," he said.

The others waited on the ladder, listening to the sounds of punches, kicks and groans from the men. Leon glanced skeptically up at Mischa and the boy grinned back. Leon sighed impatiently and glanced down at his wrist watch. Finally, Ivan stuck his head into the elevator shaft and grinned at them.

"Coming?" he asked.

Leon made a mocking sound and swung himself out of the elevator shaft and into the sterile hallway. At least, it would have been save for the bodies that littered the floors. The others followed behind him. They were still alive as far as he could tell.

"Well done, Ivan," Mikhail said. He paused and sniffed the air before smirking and staring down at the unconscious guards littering the floor. "Smell that? Ahh yes, I smell it. It reeks of the stench of piss. These men pissed themselves. Hahah! What fools!"

Leon arched his brows before turning to Claire. "Okay, we need to move," he said, "They'll probably start taking a head count and realize their soldiers are gone."

Ivan gestured to a security camera watching them. "They already know."

The camera displayed each one of them as well as multiple locations of the facility. There was quite a lot going on in each screen; Chris and his group ahd split up and were making their way slowly through the hallways, talking on walkie-talkies.

The room was darkened save for a few fluorescent lights shining bright light below to an enormous chrome-colored pool filled with water. The water rippled somewhat before the 'strange man'' surfaced his head to the length of his nose. After a few brief moments, he raised himself entirely out of the pool, his naked form dripping with water. He was muscular and strong, body rippling with raw power and covered in scars.

He climbed out and ran both hands against his short, black hair, slicking it back before smoothing his hands across the black mustache and goatee on his face. After a brief moment, he stepped out, gathered a white robe hanging on a hook by the front door before he stepped into his private quarters; the light in the room was dismal here as well, the furniture rather cheap. The white suit laid out on the single bed were neat and clean.

The man smiled and began to dress himself and after he finished, he added an elaborate gold-on-black enamel Umbrella logo which he pinned to the lapel of his elegant dinner jacket. He steps back to consider his reflection in the mirror. He tipped his chin to one side and raised a single brow for a brief moment before he exhaled and closed his eyes, almost as if he were in deep thought.

But he wasn't.

When he opened his eyes again, they had become a blazing red with cat-like slits for irises. He smiled to himself, showing his inhuman teeth.


	7. Part Seven

~O~

**Part Seven**

Jonas wasn't too sure how long he'd been unconscious. His world spun out of control and his head hurt almost like something had been punched clear through his skull. After waking up and checking out his surroundings, he noticed that he was no longer inside the hallways. It looked like he was in a laboratory of some kind, barely lit by the lights above with computers, microscopes and various tubes. He didn't even remember how he'd gotten there.

"Hello..."

Head still swimming, Jonas looked around for the source of the almost warm and gentle voice. He spotted Alex standing beside a table and his brain could barely process the man working with something. Alex smiled at him and Jonas looked away to a guard at his side. It was then that he noticed his arms strapped down to a table which suspended him vertically above ground. The same was with his legs. He was pinned down and could not move.

"W-What the hell is this?" Jonas groaned, "What are you doing?"

Alex turned back to what he was working on; a syringe which contained a suspicious violet fluid. "You put up quite a fight," he said, "My men had to tranquilize you before you could escape us. Safety precautions, you understand." He looked back down at Jonas with that same kind, gentle smile. It was so peaceful that it was hard to believe that he was the enemy.

"You piece of fucking dog shit!" Jonas shrieked, struggling beneath his bonds, "Let me out of here so that I can kick your-"

The guard at his side smacked Jonas across the face with the end of his rifle and the action caused Alex to glare swiftly at him. "That's enough!" he scolded. After a moment, Alex smiled and gestured to the side. "Go and see what is keeping our guests, will you?"

The guard nodded his acknowledgement and walked out of the room with his weapon in hand. Jonas watched him go with blood trickling down the length of his cheek. He wasn't sure how well his friends were doing if the menace was here all along. He wasn't even sure how long he had been out cold and on this table and why he was kept alive was another story entirely.

Alex walked over to him and dabbed Jonas' blood-stained lip with a small handkerchief. "I really must apologize for my associate's behavior," he told him, "He's in desperate need of a lesson in manners."

Jonas stared down at the hand that wiped the blood and then, back up at him with confusion, fear and anger. "Who are you?"

Alex smiled at him before lowering the hand. There was a strange light in his eyes that Jonas wasn't particularly fond of. He couldn't quite name what it was, but Alex looked at him in a way that a hawk would a mouse. "Forgive me, my friend; my name is Alexander Wesker, but my comrades in arms simply call me Alex," he answered.

Jonas groaned and struggled some more beneath his bonds. "I need to get out of here. I need to get back to my friends!"

Alex shook his head and placed the handkerchief onto the table. "Oh, I'm afraid that I can't let you go, Jonas. You see, I didn't want such unnecessary bloodshed to happen, but most things don't go the way we want, now do they?"

"What are you talking about?" Jonas groaned in frustration. "Whatever war you want to start-"

Alex let out a small laugh and stared at the man with amusement. "'Whatever war I want to start'? Oh my boy, I have no desire to start a war with anyone or anything. The good of the world is my only real concern, not petty argument over which part of the world wields the better weaponry."

"So what then?" Jonas demanded, "I guess you want to be the god of the world?"

"A God?" Alex questioned, smiling, "Spencer had the assumption that I would allow that for the New World Order. You see, he would only sink the world further into chaos. It's time that we put an end to that." He chuckled gently down at Jonas. "You believe that I am the enemy, though you have yet to understand the wonderful plans that I have for you."

Jonas frowned and glanced down, long enough for him to now take notice to Alex prepairing a syringe. His breath came out in great gasps and he eyed the syringe warily. "W-What's in that?" he demanded, "What are you doing?"

"This? My boy, this is a little gift for you," Alex continued, "A previous associate of Umbrella referred to it as the G-virus. It is my blessing for you with...my own personal touch added..."

Jonas had never experienced it first hand, but he had heard enough stories about the G-virus and witnessed the change in Frank to know just what kind of damage it was capable of. His struggles intensified as Alex brought the tip of the needle toward a select vein in his wrist. He could feel the pressure of it. It would soon pierce his flesh. "No! Please, don't do this!" he begged, "Don't turn me into one of those things! Please! PLEASE!"

Alex shushed him gently like a child and slowly, ever so slowly, undid the straps of his legs that held him in place. Jonas clenched his teeth in agony when he felt the needle slide into his arm a few seconds later, pumping the cursed virus into his veins. He let lose a howl of fury, pain and when his arms were free, he started to make a lunge for Alex's throat in a desperate and final attempt to wound him; the man took a step back and watched as Jonas doubled over with a sharp groan.

"Oh...you bastard...!" Jonas gurgled, his voice pitching low with agony.

Alex smiled at him and gently wrapped his arms around the man, petting his head like a child. "Shhh..." he soothed, "It will all be over very soon, sweet little boy. You will never feel any pain again, I can assure you of that."

Pain? Alex had no idea of the concept and no perceptive guess on what Jonas was experiencing right at this very second. Pain was a hell of an understatement and he tried so very hard to remember who he was and his friends. But everything was hurting so very bad and to him, it felt like someone was clawing his stomach wall open with sharp knives. His vision twisted and bent before him like a kaleidoscope and suddenly, his brain functioned only one clear, powerful message, clearing out any human thoughts that he may have had left in his head.

KILL.

O

Rose and Chris found themselves hurrying toward the ship dock. They stopped when they saw Alex standing at the edge of the water, his back to them. Chris leveled his assault rifle at the man's back and Rose followed suit.

"There, there, we don't want that, now do we?" Alex purred, turning to face them. "Yes, we're going to be just fine, aren't we, my children?"

Rose narrowed her eyes venomously. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"Oh, that is a question not so easily answered, my dear," Alex continued, "I am everyone and no one, I am man and woman, I am God and mortal."

Rose laughed coldly. "Sounds like you're just full of shit, old man!"

Alex chuckled quietly before he seemed to stare right at Chris. "I'd almost given up waiting for you to come and play. I am flattered to have you here at long last."

Chris smirked sarcastically. "It'll pass."

Alex seemed delighted all the more, despite Chris' sarcasm. "Ohh," he crooned. "Is that any way to treat an old friend of the family?" He smiled at Chris' confusion. "No, speak truthfully, Chris. You are pleased to see me. After all these years of hunting the man behind Umbrella, you knew you wanted to find me. Find the true face of Albert Wesker's motives."

"What are you talking about?" Chris demanded, "You're just an Umbrella pawn like the rest of them! I saw Spencer's files!"

Alex sighed and shook his head with dismay. It made his calm features looked surprisingly handsome, despite the grimace. "You misunderstand me. I cannot blame you; human mentality often reaches this conclusion based on what they see and hear instead of reaching their own conclusion." Then, he turned his attention to Rose. "You've come so far and suffered so much, my dear. The Vengeful Mother shall blanket the world in fire. Rose, do you know who I speak of? I speak of you, my beloved."

Rose looked confused and angry. "Talk English or my gun's going to have to translate!"

"You see," Alex continued, pacing back and forth on the edge of the dock, "You were taken from your true family while still an infant. It was up to me to grant you daily injections to test your body's will against them. Of course, you received neither advancements nor flaws from them, your genetic systems were flawless and combated any damages or sickness. Your immunity allowed for you to remain healthy and strong, almost like Albert." He grinned broadly. "You were born to become the Mother of the New World."

Chris shook his head. "Sorry, but Albert Wesker's dead."

"Indeed he is," Alex replied, as if the revelation was of no consequence, "I had made many attempts at recreating Albert. It's been rather difficult because while the DNA is sufficient enough, I could not replace what made Albert perfect without further testing."

Chris and Rose looked stunned, glancing at each other briefly before glaring at him.

"You're trying to fucking clone him?" Rose demanded.

"I can see the only way to end this for good is to deal with you like we dealt with Albert Wesker," Chris added.

Alex's brows arched at the threat. He glanced at Chris with a broad smile. "But there's so much more to learn." After moving toward a door behind him, he stopped and glanced to the right; he smiled thoughtfully, as if he could hear something that the pair could not. Once a brief moment passed, Alex looked back at the two. "You know, Rose, they say that the greatest suffering...a parent can know...is the loss of a child. Shall I introduce the being who gave you life?"

Rose and Chris looked up, catching the sight of a towering shadow moving slowly up to them. It had a large left arm rippling with pus-filled sores and its other arm ended in a sharp, deadly bone-like blade. The face was lifeless, tattered and broken, exposing its gums and teeth and its eyes were pitch black. The creature regarded its opponents with a pitiless, cold expression. They backed away slowly as it began to advance.

"What the hell is that?" Rose cried.

Chris' brow knotted. "Tyrant..." he said, almost as if he couldn't believe it himself. "The first bio-weapons engineered by Umbrella." He blinked and studied the creature up and down, watching its every motion and every gesture. They stared back at him, never blinking.

"Yeah?" Rose groused. "I'm not too surprised anymore. Any idea why?"

The Tyrant turned to her and arched its back in a fighting stance. Rose flashed a grin, despite the fact that she was slightly unnerved by the sight of the creature. She raised her gun higher.

"Rose?" Alex crooned, "I'd like you to meet the man you once thought of as 'father'. Now known by us all as Alpha."

The Alpha Tyrant moved toward the two menacingly, jaws open in occasional snarls and hisses. They stood in defensive stances, watching it slowly move toward them and ready to defend against any attack that would come. It did nothing at first, just studied them for the longest time before it screamed and surged forward.

Alex smiled as he watched the two duck and roll as his Tyrant swiped, punched, and clawed. Its blade arm slashed at Rose's face, sending her staggering back in disbelief and pain, grasping her cheek instinctively. Before she could recover from the assault, she felt a clawed hand seize her throat tightly. Wincing, she was lifted from the ground to come face-to-face with the monstrosity before her.

The flesh was clammy and surprisingly hotter than she depicted it would be from sight alone. The claws digging into her flesh were solid and sharp; there was a certain threat in the feeling in her throat that spoke of her neck snapping if she didn't do something soon to break free.

The Tyrant cocked its head at her, snarling softly. Rose struggled in its grip as its clawed arms closed around her legs to prevent her from fighting back. Rough panting sounds escaped her nostrils and she moaned quickly in an attempt to free herself.

"Hang on, Rose!" Chris shouted.

Alex observed their struggles with amusement and walked away.

_Yet another test for you, my precious Rose. Let's see how you fair against losing another parent._

Meanwhile, Ivan was moving slowly and cautiously down the pristine halls. He glanced both ways, gazing down two opposing hallways for a brief moment to check for signs of guards. There were no signs of anyone or anything. But as soon as he sensed something behind him, he whirled and there stood Alex. Ivan furrowed his brow thoughtfully and tilted his head to one side, scrutinizing the man standing there.

"You..." Ivan whispered, "You are not who I thought you'd be."

Alex chuckled and shook his head. "Indeed I am not," he replied, "I am he who made you into what you are, my dear Ivan. While Spencer claimed you as a failure, I see a beautiful Russian baby boy with a gift that he could not understand."

Ivan's eyes narrowed at the 'compliment'. He stared down at his wrapped hand, to the mutation beneath it and snarled at him, his eyes blazing with fury. "YOU! YOU DID THIS!" he shouted, "YOU DID THIS TO ME!"

Alex uttered another chuckle. He took a deep inhale and his chest puffed up somewhat. "You seem distressed, my child. Was it not a blessing to give you the greatest gift of all? To allow for you to live forever?"

Ivan pulled out two handguns from his hip holsters and aimed them at Alex just as he started to take a step forward. The man stopped in his advance and shook his head with pity and boredom, as if he had been down this road before.

"Oh Ivan, look at you...So eager to take a life...so willing to squeeze the trigger for the safety of your family and friends," Alex continued, "You always were my favorite of them all. So spirited despite the circumstances, so full of vigor and life. You gave joy to another; a woman who saw you for what you were, not for what she wanted you to be. If only my son could have been that way." He closed his eyes and pretended to be hurt by the sound of the handguns clicking. His little specimen truly wanted to kill him. "Good. Stand your ground. Face me! Face your maker." A sudden grin touched his lips. "Family man."

"This not a game!" Ivan bellowed, furiously, "You took my wife! You hurt many others! You can't do this anymore!"

Alex arched an eyebrow and his voice seemed to change. There was no name for the tone there, but a clever man could possibly detect a bare hint of challenge there, as if Ivan had insulted his intelligence; almost. "A game?" he whispered, "Oh...of course not, my boy. There is no joy to me in seeing innocents suffer." He smiled so suddenly. "If I were you, I'd keep better track of my family members. We don't want to add another to your growing list of loved ones, do we?"

Ivan's eyes suddenly went wide in horror. "What?"

Alex closed his eyes. When he opened them, Mischa's voice emerged from his throat. _"Papa!"_

Ivan suddenly turned tail and ran back the way that he had come, determined to find his son. Alex watched him go and he slowly laughed to himself. This would be interesting indeed. "Go!" he called, "Go and find your son! Run!"

O

Rose grimaced weakly and struggled to dodge the swipe of Alpha's claws. She barely missed as its attack smashed a nearby crate into several splinters. Staggering back, she backed up into Chris and they watched as Alpha studied them, nostrils fluttering with each gentle breath. It glanced down and seemed fascinated with something that Rose obviously couldn't see. She glanced down with the creature to see what it was seeing, but she couldn't see it. She couldn't see anything.

Chris squeezed a round into the Tyrant's chest several times, causing it to stagger with wet grunts of pain. It gripped at its chest and righted itself almost immediately. Then, it gave a low, warbling groan that almost sounded dissonantly human. Rose blinked at that, stunned. The Tyrant backed from her, moaning like it had been severely wounded but its wounds were clearly less fatal than they seemed. Its teeth gnashed together and it locked its horrible eyes with her.

_"R...Rose...?"_

Rose reacted visibly with shock and disbelief when it spoke. Why had it suddenly recoil from her like she had burned its hands off? Rose definitely missed something now. She studied the Tyrant in confusion.

It looked down at her, rumbling lowly and painfully. Its black pools reflected a peculiar brown and a human-like shimmer to them. Rose locked gazes with the creature, trying to see just what was wrong with it. She started to go forward, but Alpha swiped its claws at her. She almost felt a gust of wind from the assault alone as it barely missed her face.

_"STAY BACK!" _came the unholy human-like scream from the creature.

Alpha's body shuddered and it reached out for her again to perhaps attack; but then it recoiled, forcing its dangerous claws back with the other arm, uttering a fierce shriek of agony. Rose watched the scene in shock.

"D-Daddy?" she whispered.

_"Noo..." _the Tyrant groaned, through its massive teeth. _"... stay back...Please...GO!" _His last word ended in a full-throated beastly roar.

Rose felt ice filling her entire lungs, choking her breathing and sending every inch of her body shaking like an earthquake. It took a few brief seconds to realize that the Alpha Tyrant was surging toward her, shaking the ground beneath her feet. Rose barely registered the attack coming and Chris' shout of warning. She just felt an anesthetizing sensation in her legs, a blocking of the world around her. Her mind screamed at her to move, but she couldn't.

_You fool! Move before you are killed!_

But Rose didn't hear the voice. She didn't hear anything. She barely noticed Chris surging after the Alpha Tyrant to stop it before it reached her; she couldn't hear the shouts from him telling her to run. His mouth was moving but nothing was coming out. It all seemed to go in slow motion, time whirring down into a single second that wasted away into forever.

Rose snapped out of it as soon as she felt heavy hands against her chest, shoving her back into the ground. It felt like she had been hit by a concrete wall and her spine could certainly vouch for that. She looked up, the world resuming its normal speed as Chris began squeezing round after round into the Tyrant's head-apparently he had been the one to knock her out of the way as he was now standing directly in front of her.

The Tyrant staggered back, moving toward the water behind it, roaring out with every shot. It hit the water with a loud splash, disappearing from view. Chris and Rose rushed toward the edge of the dock, peering into the darkness of the water to see if they could catch sight of the creature.

"It's going to come back..." Rose whispered, a haunted look in her gaze, "We need to keep moving and stop that prick once and for all."

Meanwhile, Beth was slowly making her way down the seemingly abandoned hallways. She kept her back to the wall, peering around a corner cautiously at the sight of several soldiers rushing down another hall. They seemed frantic and out of order, completely lacking any proper control. Beth was worried after losing sight of Jonas among the chaos. Her weapon wasn't enough to take out everyone or everything she crossed paths with.

Just as she turned to go, she came face-to-face with Claire. Both women screamed out in alarm before calming themselves.

"Who the hell are you?" Claire demanded.

While the two women were talking, Alex was watching them from one of his security monitors. He smiled and raised a finger to a button before looking back at a man standing behind him-a skinny, and funny looking, yet highly proud doctor who went by the name of Austin Gregory. He served as Alex's top researcher and is the leading mind behind most of the experiments, including the ones involving Rose's true birth parents. Though he was almost always easily worried about much of the progress of the experiments and paranoid about the consequences of potential failures or authorities, he was always eager to please.

"Austin, the less desirables serve no purpose to me," he told him, "This is becoming rather taxing. Do see to it, won't you?"

Austin nodded his head gravely. "What would you have me do?"

Alex pondered this before smiling. "Let the pets have some fun while I speak with another pet project."

Austin seemed to understand. He noticed that Alex was watching a screen that displayed Mischa on it, seemingly wandering an abadoned laboratory. Alone. He winced and looked at his boss with uncertainty. "Kill the boy? He's just a kid. He's not worth the shit on the bottom of my boot."

"Austin...there can be no use for him or the others who will threaten our plans, am I correct?" Alex sighed, "Do not disappoint me, my friend."

Austin pursed his lips, but nodded and clutched a pistol in his hand. "Yes, sir..."

He left the room and made his way toward the laboratory where he didn't see Mischa. He looked around and exhaled, knowing that the boy was hiding. True enough, Mischa had taken cover beneath a counter. He held an intricate knife with a small feather dangling from the hilt close to his chest and he shut his eyes, stilling his breathing like his father had taught him. _Calm your heart, clear your mind and find your enemy's weakness. Once you found that weakness, you strike without mercy, without remorse._

It was the way of a warrior and Mischa had always wanted to be just like his father.

"Come on, kid," Austin called, "I don't like it any more than you do."

Then, when he arrived at the counter, Mischa stood with his knife at the ready, he ended up face-to-face with a dark, gleaming barrel. Austin smiled at him, but his eyes held a glimmer of doubt for what he knew would have to be done.

"There you are," he said, "I promise to make it quick."

Mischa held up both of his hands and kept his gaze locked with Austin's. "Why are you doing this?" he asked, steadily, "What can you accomplish? Do you fight for better politics? Better wars? Money?" He chuckled. "My papa has a saying, 'Politics is a rotten egg. When broke, it stinks'."

Austin kept his weapon trained on the boy. "Alex has changed this world; sure, he's crazy sometimes, but take a good look at what he's going to do for all of us," he told the boy, "Once everything is said and done, there will be no war...crime...nothing."

Mischa chuckled and shrugged a single shoulder. "I guess I just have an eye for prettier things."

He swiftly grabbed a beaker and tossed it at Austin. The man reacted by shielding his arm from the glass that shattered against it and Mischa took the advantage by quickly ducking to the left. Austin regained his senses and opened fire, sending shellfire raining across the room, shattering glass beakers, rupturing rubber tubes and shredding papers. After he was sure that Mischa was no where in sight, he looked around furiously.

"Come out and fight!" he shouted, "I was going to make it quick, but now you pissed me off!"

Mischa was lying beneath a table across from Austin's scrawny, exposed legs and he lashed out with the knife, slashing through the fabric. Austin gave a sharp cry of pain and shot round after round at the place where Mischa used to occupy.

"Goddamn it, boy," Austin snarled, "Stop this running around like a fucking pussy and fight me!"

Mischa laughed from somewhere across the room. He tried a bait-and-catch technique with a bit of colorful language the way Mikhail had taught him. "Hey, if you see that guy, tell him his grandmother was trying to work me over."

Austin snarled furiously and his face went bright red at the insulting joke. "You little son-of-a-bitch!"

Mischa moved just as fast again, slashing Austin behind his back. The man cried out in agony, clutching his wound and he looked around wildly for the boy. Damn! He was a fast little bastard! After a few moments of heavy breathing and curses, Austin suddenly smirked and shut off every sense he had save for hearing. He could make out small footsteps, heading right for him to his left...

He turned swiftly and fired.

Mischa's world went white hot and before he knew it, he had hit the floor hard. His head rang with excruciating agony and his chest felt as if someone had set it on fire. There was a pool of bright red forming around his blurry line of vision and he realized that it was his own blood. He tried to scream for help, but he was interrupted by the liquid that filled his throat. Austin towered over him and Mischa glared up with defiance.

"I'm so sorry, son," Austin said, his words sounding like he was standing behind a muffled door, "It's not my style to kill a kid. Really, it's not. I didn't want this to happen, but I have orders. If it's any consolation; you're one hell of a fighter. I am gonna miss you."

Mischa felt the cold barrel against his forehead and he finally stopped gasping long enough to smile with a sort of peace. "_Мама, быть со мной_(Mama, be with me)..." he whispered, just before his world went black.

O

Ivan had heard the sound of the gunshot just as soon as it went off. He froze in his spot and his chest felt a twinge of pain that he had never felt before since the death of his wife. He couldn't explain why he felt physical anguish, but right now, he had to find his son. He had to pray to himself that Mischa had been the one to pull a trigger, not the other way around. Oh please let that be it...

"Mischa...!" he gasped.

Ivan surged down the hall, running as fast as his legs would carry him toward the sound of the shot. His heavy footsteps thudded loudly against the floor and his nostrils flared with determined breaths. Oh God, please let him not be late!

"Mischa!" Ivan bellowed desperately, stopping at a corner, "MISCHA! Where are you! Answer father at once! Misch-" He cut himself off at the sight of bloody footsteps that led a path out from the laboratory.

Ivan felt his world slowly close in on him and he moved tentatively toward the sliding door, losing his sense of breath and time. It swooshed open and the frantic father received the greatest horror of his life: the sight of his blood-drenched son lying on the floor.

Ivan felt his head ringing and he slowly dropped to his knees. The ringing in his head blotted out the horrible sounds of his screams.

_"MISCHA!"_

Ivan scrambled across the floor on his hands and knees, working his way through blood and glass to reach his dead son, not even caring if the shards were slicing into his flesh and cutting him in painful ways. He took a firm hold of his son and brought him close to his chest, sobbing against his forehead. He swayed back and forth as he cradled Mischa's lifeless body.

"My son...My son..." he moaned, over and over again, his tears streaming down Mischa's blood-soaked cheek, "Not my son..."

He stopped sobbing long enough to notice the blood-stained knife in his son's clutches. He reached up and gently took it, studying the hilt with a smile of despair. He had made this weapon for him, carving his initials M.I.D. with the image of a wolf alongside it. Ivan chuckled sorrowfully to himself. He remembered calling his son a little pup when he was a baby, which had always earned the disdain from his wife.

Mischa had loved the name because it was something that he had shared with his father, no matter what anyone else said. The wolf had also been his most favorite animal, so Ivan, delighted by the fact that his son wanted him to craft a weapon for him.

But now...

Ivan suddenly felt heat swelling in his chest, a heat that choked off his ability to breathe and all sense of reason. His world turned red and began to sway like the shifting waves of a crimson sea. He could not hear his own racing heart, his surging breath and his snarls. There was no Ivan, there was no Mischa, there was only the thirst for blood and the desire to kill until there was no more left to kill. He dropped to his knees, hands lurched out in front of him before he ripped the bandage away from his clawed hand. The sounds that burst from him were primal and he let out a horrifying scream that sounded no where near human.


	8. Part Eight

~O~

**Part Eight**

Andrei and Dmitrii began to move their way slowly down the length of a narrow, darkened hallway. It seemed to be a storage area of some kind, perhaps for viruses and test documents. There were small, dim lights on that indicated the paths down the halls, somewhat like the lights that one would see on the movie theater floors. It was eerie and too quiet for both men.

"We find power core and blow it up," Dmitrii murmured, "Simple, yes?" He cleared his throat. "Yet, I am beginning to not like this so much."

"I was just thinking the same thing." Andrei added, his eyes roving up toward the ceiling where there were metal beams that could have hidden anyone or anything over their heads.

"Well, maybe..." Dmitrii began.

The sound was leonine and it was loud enough to sound like it was coming from behind the two men. They jumped and cast their weapons back down the way that they had come. There was no sign of anything.

"Shit!" Andrei hissed. He waited for a brief second. "What was that?"

Another sharp clanging sound jolted them toward the hallway in front of them and they immediately switched on their laser sights toward a small canister that rolled on by, almost as if someone had knocked it over. The two men glanced at each other warily and they did not move.

"Someone is toying with us," Andrei murmured, slowly starting forward. He paused and glanced back at his not-so-eager comrade. "You coming?"

Dmitrii shook his head and gestured with the barrel of his rifle. "Go ahead then. Check it out."

Andrei rolled his eyes with dismay. "Well, if you're going to be a little girl about it, then at least watch my back."

Dmitrii didn't argue. He just grinned and nodded. "Of course."

Andrei shook his head with a grimace of pity before he advanced slowly toward the following hallway. He stared down at the rolling canister and noticed that it was sticky with what appeared to be strands of saliva. He touched a bit of it with the barrel of his rifle, bringing it closer to his face for study. Suddenly, Dmitrii clasped a hand down onto his friend's shoulder and Andrei whirled on him furiously.

"Are you insane, you stupid moron!" he whispered angrily, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Dmitrii shrugged one shoulder as if it wasn't a big deal before something struck his shoulder with a dull splat. He frowned and reached up, bringing his hands to the sticky substance and squishing it between his fingers. A soft growling sound drew both of their heads upwards in the direction of the metal banisters.

Two enormous shapes hovered over them, clinging to the pipelines. They possessed no fur but instead, have rippling raw muscle and exposed tendons. They also had no eyes and one of them seem to have small blister-like patches on its head.

The two hounds lurked menacingly overhead and finally, one dove down at them with a bellowing, leonine roar. The two men screamed and attempted to open fire, but both creatures moved too swiftly for them to counterattack. The first Cerberus clamped its teeth onto Dmitrii's wrist and the other grabbed his leg in its teeth. The two hounds began to play tug-of-war, ripping chunks of flesh from the wailing man's body.

"SHOOT THEM!" Dmitrii wailed.

Andrei attempted to lock onto the snarling, feeding animals that literally tore his screaming friend apart. As soon as his weapon clicked, one of the "dogs" jerked its head upwards and snarled, baring its blood-drenched teeth. Andrei's hands shook as he fired a blast of bullets that ripped into the creature's tough hide, but it appeared to do no harm to it. Blood and chunks of flesh went flying, but the beast was still moving, advancing slowly onto him like a stalking predator.

"Oh shit!" Andrei gasped.

Suddenly, it all happened in a blur. One minute he was standing there with his body intact, the next, the walls and windows all around him were abruptly splashed with blood. The blood-drenched COM was lying on the floor, mashed in chunks of flesh and entrails, completely ignored by the snarling, feeding animals as Claire's static-filled voice echoed from it.

"Andrei. Andrei, do you read me? Stop messing around, I can't find Ivan anywhere and I have Beth Underwood short on a comrade as well!" She was silent for a moment. "ANDREI! DMITRII! Do you copy?"

Meanwhile, Austin was in a medical room, struggling to wrap up his wounded leg while two doctors tried to help him. They seemed to work anxiously and hurriedly, almost as if they too were afraid to linger for much longer.

"How did this happen, sir?" one of the doctors-the woman-asked.

Austin grimaced sharply, stifling a groan when she dabbed the cut with a Q-tip filled with alcohol. "A Russian brat attacked me," he groused, "Little bastard was fast, too. But I took care of it as Alex told me to."

The two doctors looked at each other. They didn't seem enthused by this knowledge; they had a more moral way of thinking that the soldiers here lacked. "Did you...kill the boy sir?" the other doctor asked, grimacing as he said this.

"Let's just say he'll be doing his little square dancing in hell-Don't look at me like that! I didn't want to kill him, but Alex has his orders. And if you want to keep your head, you'd do as he says too."

The doctors looked pained by his response, but they resumed work on fixing him up. After all, they had no say or authority to argue with Alex's orders. He could simply kill them too if he truly wanted them to.

Suddenly, there was a gentle knock on the medical bay door. The three glanced over at it in confusion. "Hello?" the female doctor called.

On the other side of the door stood Ivan, shoulder high, wicked gurgling snarls filling his throat. He sounded like a man on the verge of a stroke or a heart attack. He raised his shaking, blood-drenched hands and smoothed back his hair before he knocked again.

"Answer it!" Austin spat, glaring at the doctors.

Suddenly, there was a loud popping sound and the door flew wildly off of its hinges like a piece of tin foil, sending hot showers of electricity everywhere and dimming the entire room into darkness. The trio across the room gave simultaneous, startled shouts and there was a struggle to get the lights back on and locate the source of the intrusion before it could overcome them.

"Get them back on!" Austin shouted.

"I'm trying!"

"Find the lights!"

After a brief and desperate struggle, the room lit up with light once more and the nurse was standing beside a set of switches, smiling with relief. She didn't see Ivan towering menacingly over her, his cat-like eye gleaming behind his white bangs.

"Whew, that was close," she sighed.

The other two looked beyond her with wide eyes. And there was the mortal horror in them that she recognized a second too late. "LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" the male doctor shouted, desperately.

The nurse started to turn, but Ivan didn't give her that chance to see him. He grabbed her tightly by both of her arms and sank his teeth deep into her throat, piercing the flesh and tearing veins wide open. The woman screamed in agony and struggled to free herself from the powerful man. Her screams slowly began to die down into gurgling, wet cries. The other two stumbled and backed away with horror at the sight and they could hear Ivan's ravenous, hurried slurping as he literally fed from her tattered throat like some twisted vampire.

Austin grabbed his handgun and Ivan's eyes suddenly snapped wide from behind the throat of the woman, reacting just as quick. He raised her in front of him, using her as a human shield as Austin fired round after round at him, which in turn shredded the woman's body like paper and took what ever life that she may have had still left in her.

"Argh, shit on me! Shit on me!" Austin shrieked, horrified and disgusted all at once.

Ivan suddenly tilted his head upwards, scanning the air for sounds of the clicking weapon (rid of its ammunition), taking deep, wet inhales-like a hungry beast-before he flung the lifeless nurses' body into the male doctor, sending him stumbling across the floor. He cried out in pain and made every desperate attempt to remove her from him before he could be next. Ivan was fast and on him in an instant. He grabbed the doctor by the mouth before he could even open his mouth to scream.

Wide eyed and muffled screams silenced by the horrible, clawed hand that seized him, the doctor was forced to look into the mismatched gaze of horrible, animal madness. Ivan's mouth dripped with blood and the corners pulled back into a wild, hungry grin. He gave an unholy, warbling cry before he pressed his claw into the doctor's left eye, squishing it like a jellybean and sending blood gushing from his head.

The doctor screamed in white-hot agony and Austin backed away, feeling the wall behind him. Ivan jerked his head back with a snarl and flung the doctor aside like refuse. His head struck the end of a counter top, crushing his skull like a coconut from the force and killing him instantly. Austin trembled with a whimper, his gun clicking uselessly as he squeezed the trigger. Ivan slowly stalked toward him, hands clenched into tight fists.

"I-I only did what I was told! I gave him a quick death! He didn't suffer!" Austin begged, "Please!" He looked up toward a camera watching the scene and knew that Alex could see it. "ALEX! PLEASE, SAVE ME! YOU SAID I'D BE SAFE! HELP ME, PLEASE! HE'S GOING TO-GAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Ivan had lashed his claws out, slashing Austin across the throat in a spray of gore. The man stumbled to the floor, gripping his neck as he tried to scream, but all that emerged were gurgling wails. Alex watched the gruesome sight of Ivan tearing into his subordinate with an impassive look.

"Pity..." he murmured, shaking his head.

O

"Fall back!"

"There it is! Fuck! Fuuuuck!"

"Run! Get outta of here!"

"I can't see it. Where'd it go? Where'd it go?"

"What IS that? What the hell is that?"

Claire and Beth stayed out of sight, listening to the tormented sounds of anguish through her COM link. She quickly ducked beneath a secretary's desk as two guards walked on by, talking through their COM links.

"Austin, check in! Austin! Answer me, goddamn it! What the fuck's going on down there?" A pause followed by a defeated sigh. "Shit, he's not responding. I think he might have gotten caught by the intruders."

"Should we go check it out?"

A skeptical laugh from the other-the first one who had spoken. Claire looked somewhat confused by the knowledge. "The boss told us to wait here till everything is in the clear for him. You wanna be the one to disobey his orders?"

"No way, man!"

After they continued on by, Claire and Beth lifted their heads from the desk and took a quick exhale of relief. They had to find the others and fast. Things were getting out of control here. Whatever this guy had set lose killed most of the guards. But why would he intentionally allow for his own men to be destroyed by it? So far every action had been calculated and precise. It didn't make sense. She looked at Beth.

"We need to find Chris," she told her.

Beth arched her brows. "I met your brother, you know. Hate to say it, but he's a certifiable asshole."

Claire laughed weakly. "Yeah, he gets that a lot."

While they were talking, Ivan was leaning against the wall before the bloody, massacred remains of Austin, his head hanging low. He snorted gruffly when he heard a voice fill the air-the voice of his deceased wife as heard from the insanity of his blood lust.

_"Ivan, what's wrong? Did someone upset you?"_

Ivan uttered a soft, almost wounded sound.

_"You know you can talk to me, honey. I'm here for you."_

Ivan let out a groan and his hands swiftly shot up to his ears, trying to block out the voice with a snarl to follow.

O

Beth and Claire made every attempt to avoid the guards as they walked through hall after hall to find their friends. Beth was growing increasingly concerned about Jonas' absence when Claire froze. Suddenly, the sound of Mikhail's voice filled her ears and she jolted where she stood.

_"Claire! Miss Redfield, please..."_

Claire furrowed her brow, cast a quick glance both ways and tapped her COM reception to hear him better. "Mikhail?" she said, "Mikhail, can you hear me? What's the matter? Is something wrong?"

_"It's Ivan...He's..." _There was a soft, horrified whisper that Claire had never heard before from one as stoic as Mikhail, _"He's...Oh God...he's...So much blood...Mischa is...He's not listening to me...Please ... please, you have to come here!"_

Claire didn't like the sound of that. "Is Ivan hurt?" she asked.

_"N-No...I-I don't think so..."_

Claire held her shotgun close to her chest. "What's your position?"

_"Second floor. Medical wing. Please, hurry!"_

Claire felt her heart grow cold. She wasn't too sure if she wanted to see what was wrong, but she had to. If Ivan was hurt in any way, or Mischa, they would need her help. Claire had learned quite a bit from Rebecca and her time in Terra Save. She had to help them.

"Hang on, Mikhail," she answered, "I'll be there."

Beth followed her as they ran down the hall. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Something's wrong with Ivan. We have to move."

"Ivan... That big, buff Russian guy?"

"Yeah..."

They rushed down a flight of emergency stairs and continued to glance at each sign posted until Beth found the one that they were looking for: 2ND FLOOR. Claire carefully opened the door, glancing both ways down the quiet hallways to make sure that no one was around before she gestured to Beth that it was clear. Then, they hurried on.

Mikhail suddenly appeared from around the corner and when he saw them, his features brightened in relief. Claire had never seen him look so haggard before; his hair was disheveled and there was blood on his jacket and hands.

"Oh thank God!" he panted, "Come! Come quickly!"

Claire and Beth followed Mikhail around the corner and they were both stunned to find a gory, bloody mess all throughout the hallway. Ivan was lying with his back against the wall, holding his son in his arms. He had his head hung, hair hiding his eyes and he seemed to be muttering soft, hurried words in Russian. Claire looked around with shock, trying to put everything together for what had happened. Beth was keeping her distance, eyes wide.

"Oh God! Oh my God!" Claire cried. She cautiously approached the man. "Ivan ..."

He continued mumbling as if she wasn't even there, stroking Mischa's lifeless head with one shaking hand. Mikhail stared at Claire desperately and she frowned at him. "Did you give him his pill?"

"I tried!" Mikhail insisted, "I tried everything! He won't listen to me! This happened before but his wife was the only one who could bring him back." He shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what to do!"

Claire stared at him sternly. "You can start by not freaking out," she replied, "It's only going to make things worse."

Mikhail nodded, but he didn't seem very certain. Claire leaned forward, whispering quietly to Ivan, cautious because she knew that he was still in the throes of his madness and could lash out without warning.

"Ivan?"

Beneath Ivan's soaked bangs, his lips pulled back, revealing the blood-stained teeth. A soft hissing sound escaped him, like that of a threatened animal challenged by smaller, cunning prey. Beth shook her head and tried to pull Claire aside, but Claire shook her arm away.

"Ivan?" Claire repeated, "Ivan, look at me."

Shakily, Ivan lifted his head slowly, terrible, choked whimpers escaping him. His eyes were far gone, filled with madness and delirium. It was like peering into the windows of hell itself; his eyes looked absolutely frightening. Suddenly, he screamed and thrashed at her and Mikhail pulled her out of the way to avoid his clawed arm.

"NO!" Ivan screeched, between choked sobs, "No! No, no, no, no!"

Claire tugged her way from his grasp and ducked from Ivan's thrashing fists to take his face between her hands and press her forehead to his. "Ivan! Ivan, it's me!" she cried, "Ivan, it's Claire. Ivan, it's me." She grimaced when his clawed hand grabbed her shoulder, starting to pull her away from him, but she fought the pain of it and spoke soothingly through a sharp hiss. "It's Claire. It's Claire."

Ivan's body rocked with massive spasms and he reached up to push her away, but his hand froze inches over her shoulders and tightened into trembling fists. Claire took one of those fists into her hands and smiled down at him, despite her uneasiness.

"Claire..." he groaned, tears forming at the corners of his eyes, "They...they killed..." His voice disappeared into broken, hollow sobs.

"I know. I know..." she whispered. Claire couldn't tell him anything that would make him feel any better. He was a father who had lost his child; nothing that she said would do anything to change that. She quickly felt around his blood-spattered coat pockets to find his capsules.

"Mikhail, where are his goddamn pills?" she demanded.

"Left pocket!"

Claire fingered through Ivan's left chest pocket, taking note to his lack of resistance before she pulled out the small container that held several horse-sized red pills. He mumbled, "My fault. It's all my fault. It should have been me" over and over again. She popped the cap open and took out a pill, pressing it to Ivan's immediately seized lips. Now was not the time for this. They had to hurry before other guards came to investigate their fallen comrade. After listening to the two that were in conversation, they were sure to catch on soon.

"Ivan, take it, please!" she begged, softly, "Please..."

Ivan whined like a beaten dog, his brow knotting before his lips parted and he took the pill, swallowing it after a long, tense moment. The red around his irises faded and he stared at Claire with sorrow, pain and bitter rage.

"C-Claire..." he moaned.

"Ivan...What happened?" Claire asked, sternly.

He looked down at his lifeless son and his teeth slowly set. "He...He killed...That...bastard dog!" he snarled, his voice slowly losing every ounce of composure. "My son...My SON! MY SON!" After a moment of petting Mischa's head, the anger and rage faded away, melting completely into sorrow, weakness and pain. "No...Mischa...NO!"

Mikhail watched the scene with pity and lowered his head.

"Ivan, we can't stay here!" Claire told him, shaking his shoulders gently, "We have to move now!"

"I can't..."

"You have to!" Claire insisted, "Do you really think Mischa would have wanted his father-his inspiration-to sit around and die crying in blood or would he want his father to kill the bastard who took his life?" She chuckled weakly. "If it were me, I'd be a little bit open to the idea!"

"Claire..."

"Get your big ass up, Ivan!" Claire told him, "Get up and win this for your boy."

Ivan looked up at her, his face haggard from crying. After a long, tense moment of staring at her, searching her eyes for something, he weakly exhaled and something suddenly changed in his gaze. "You...You came back...for me?"

Claire smiled at him and nodded. "What else could I do?"

Ivan smiled weakly and reached up to cup her face. Surprisingly, she did not flinch away. "_Moy angel, moy dragotsennyy angel_ (My angel, my precious angel)," he whispered, "_Kak ya tak tebya obozhayu _(How I so adore you)." He laughed softly with delight-or delirium. It was difficult to tell.

After a moment of gathering his wits about him, Mischa was covered with Ivan's long jacket and saluted by both Ivan and Mikhail as if he were a fallen soldier in their ranks. Ivan had placed the knife on Mischa's chest.

"Godspeed, Mischa!" Mikhail whispered.

"Godspeed..." Ivan repeated.

Finally, the four raced down the length of the hallway, seeking out the revenge that was desperately craved.

"Remember this; these men are thieves. They've stolen Mary from us and now they have taken Mischa," Mikhail vowed, "Let us show them what we do to thieves!"

O

Meanwhile, Chris and Rose were standing outside Alex's meeting room. Chris gave Rose an indicating nod and she acknowledged with one of her own; she seemed a bit nervous, but mostly eager to deal out some well-deserved revenge. Chris couldn't argue with that. Finally, they kicked the doors open and rushed into the room, noticing no one else in there save for Alex. He had his back to them, staring out through the enormous glass window in front of him. Chris and Rose aimed their guns at him.

"You've come at last," Alex crooned, turning to face them, "How wonderful. I had hoped that you would not disappoint me."

Rose scowled at him.

"Well, now that you are here, perhaps it's time I give you the truth that you so desperately crave." Alex continued, with an unpleasant, yet dreamy smile to his face "After all, I do owe it do you, Rose...don't I?"

Rose nodded her head angrily. "Yeah, you're damn right you owe us, asshole!"

"Of course..." Alex said, pacing slowly back and forth, "You see, humanity is already dead; a living, shambling corpse waiting to expire. The Wesker Children were merely a prototype plan in Spencer's mind. I took his plan and made it worthy of pursuit. Albert Wesker was to become the king of this world, that much was true, but Rose?" He grinned now. "You were meant to be his queen. The Mother of the New World that I shall create."

You were a part of my plan, not Spencer's. While we both agreed on Project Genesis, what he didn't know was that I had made my own plans. Spencer was blind by selfish ideals. A pure and new world could not have been built on such foundations. I had to step in and take my place once I learned that Spencer wished to create a world in HIS image; this would be the downfall of us all. I couldn't allow for that to happen. Every experiment, every finance that he had ever granted me was taken away from him in one night. It was simple given my allies that I had at the time. My mission was to ensure his survival, to locate the source of Eternity. He wanted me to locate and create the very source of eternal life."

Rose's eyes widened in disbelief and Chris looked just as disgusted. "What?" she exclaimed.

"My love. You are anything BUT common," Alex purred, "Help me, Rose. Help me bring to life a new era of peace."

"No." Rose snapped defiantly.

Chris was surprised by her defiant tone, glancing over at her. Rose could not resist her disgust. "I won't be some sick little breeding puppet for you, you fucking freak!" she spat, voice heavy with absolute hatred, "You killed my friends and family, so why in _GOD'S NAME_, would I even consider siding with the likes of you?!"

Alex took that insult as he did any: With a grain of salt. He simply chuckled softly. "My dear, I am many things, but insane is not one of them," he replied, "My duty was to the Mission of the World. I warned Albert of the error of her ways, but he would not listen to reason. I did tell him it would end badly should he choose the path that he did. It was my duty to the project. My duty to assure that he did not make a foolish error in judgment. But...I had to make due with what I had. The name Albert Wesker. It is a used, dulled tool motivated merely by your own animal fears. Fear is a coward's tool used to control others. I will never control with fear."

Chris considered this. "The source of immortality..." he whispered, "How did you do it?"

"It took ten long years until I had a full grasp of my capabilities," Alex continued, smiling pleasantly at them, "And to understand that, you must know that the virus takes what it can and gives back in return. It is a mutual bond between me and my dear gift." His eyes landed onto Chris. "It is a gift, Chris Redfield. One that I would not have allowed to be squandered on selfish endeavors for a petty old man."

"What do you mean, 'takes what it can'?" Rose demanded.

Alex smiled at her and tilted his head with fascination. "What do you believe is the truth, my dear Rose? Thrill me with your acumen."

Rose scowled angrily and looked at Chris for a brief moment of indication before she snorted. "Fuck this shit!" she shouted.

Alex grinned widely. "How delightful. You're going to kill me. I would certainly love to see you attempt it."

He didn't even have to wait. Bullet after bullet tore into Alex's body, sending splatters of blood flying through the air around him, but he just stood there with a calm smile. Chris took shots as well, but his eyes widened in shock when he realized that Alex was not going down at all from their attack. After realizing the lack of damage and her mistake, Rose stopped firing her weapons long enough to stare at him in disbelief.

Alex chuckled and he held out a single closed palm to them. When he opened it for the two of them to see, there rested the shells that she had just fired at him and he dumped them to the floor. Rose's pistol slipped from her hand and joined the shells that she had fired. Alex slowly approached the two, obvious menace in his steps. His smile slowly began to disappear as he drew closer and closer.

"I can see that we will waste no time talking, then." he said, his voice dropping a register.

His hands shot out and he took them both by the throat, lifting them off of their feet and carrying them toward the window. With a chuckle, his brows went up and he leaned forward.

"Au revior!"

And with that, he tossed them both through the glass of the windows.


	9. Part Nine

~O~

**Part Nine**

Chris struggled to regain consciousness. He focused his blurry vision toward Rose who was lying a few feet away on her back. He tried to survey his surroundings among the dizzying sensation of his vision struggling to clear. Alex stared down at them from afar. It was obvious that the room was some form of observation deck and where Rose and Chris had landed looked to be an arena of some kind. A large fan whirred behind them, pumping in oxygen. He smiled at them before leaping from the shattered window, scaling down the length of the walls like a spider. He landed onto two feet and clenched his hands into tight fists, inhaling deeply.

"Rose, get up!" Chris hissed, staggering to his feet.

She was regaining her senses, slowly rising with a weak groan. "Oh shit, that hurt..." she groaned.

"That is an unfortunate mistake that many of my enemies tend to make," he told them, "They will always act before they think."

Rose and Chris stood up and faced him, their bodies tensed for a fight. Alex's eyes slowly drifted and landed to Rose.

"I can help you, Rose," he told her. He looked at Chris and his eyes narrowed. "My friend, you are a blind fool. Such a sadness this is to see you led so far astray."

Chris scowled. "It's my job to make sure people like you never win!"

"Such blind arrogance. You wouldn't have even been useful to feed even the smallest lifeform in my facility." Alex turned his attention back to Rose. "Now, I can help you. I can give you what the world never could."

Rose scowled at him. "You'll never know what I want..."

And yet, despite what she had just said, Alex could see her face registering every word of his reply, every nuance, every promise that he made to her. She was stirring, the child. She was curious. Nothing could hide that from him. "Oh? Nothing at all? I know what you want, Rose. Respect. Power...And maybe, your," His face changed into Dahlia's and his voice as well. "Mother?"

Rose's eyes snapped wide with horror at the sight. Then, it quickly morphed into an expression of pure rage, tears stinging her eyes and she shouted out her fury, surging toward him with murderous intent. Alex was waiting for that. He grinned and seized her fist, just as she had thrown out a punch, twisted and she gave a cry of pain and fury, throwing out her other fist in a desperate attempt to hurt him.

"Oh! Is that any way to treat your mother?" he sneered.

Chris suddenly appeared to the side and Alex smirked, sensing this before he could throw out his elbow. He took Rose and flung her aside just as fast, catching Chris' elbow with his own. For the moment, both of them met each others' gazes. One cold and pitiless while the other remained hidden. Alex actually smiled cheerfully and studied Chris with a tilt of his head. Chris finally wrenched his arm free and swung at Alex again. Alex jumped back and flipped, pressing both of his hands onto the ground and performed a graceful flip back to his feet. When he straightened, he smiled at the sight of the two surging for him again.

_Spirited. Oh that's very good indeed! _he thought.

Rose threw fist after fist at Alex, who blocked with his left arm and Wesker came at him from the right, which he blocked as well with his right arm. He quickly swept out his leg, tripping Rose and he grabbed Wesker's arm, flipping him onto his back with ease. Watching the growling, shamed figures rise, he decided to worm them down a few notches by revealing the truth.

"Do you know what role New Genesis played in this...experiment?" he asked them, "Director Craig Melbourne came to me after siding along with Spencer, a...double agent more or less. He wanted to take part in my...private affairs. He enlisted Frank Head to help. I placed it upon themselves to make certain that you suspected nothing until the appropriate time. They performed their ruse with flying colors. It was Craig that I had become concerned with toward his last living days."

"Why's that?" Rose grunted, her brow arched sarcastically.

Alex's brow knotted and he shook his head with pity. "He faltered at the sight of Albert," he answered for her, "And ... he used such distasteful measures to make certain that you would comply. What a pity. I certainly would not have had that happen to you."

"You're too kind..."

"Everything that you have ever endured up until this point was a test, Rose," Alex continued, "For you and Albert," His eyes landed on Chris, "Even your little friend here...Every single obstacle was created by me."

Chris clenched his teeth with fury. "You were behind everything?"

"I was, boy. Every single thing. I granted Frank the G-virus which allowed for him to attack Rose and her friends at the station. Frank knew what had to be done-Oh, why do you look so surprised? Do you think that Frank was loyal to you, Rose? He was my most faithful of comrades. He wanted to live forever, he wanted the immortality that came with the sacrifice of his own humanity. I knew that Chris would find you. I knew that Vanek would bring about the realization of your drive for revenge."

"Who asked you anyway?" Rose spat.

"Sometimes we must act in a way that is best for everyone, Rose," Alex told her, "You have just learned that lesson not so long ago, haven't you? Oh...I understand. It must have been hard for you to take the life of your mother. You never knew one another, but I knew that the bond between a mother and her child could never be severed. In fact, I was counting on it! To kill her meant that you had nothing more to lose!"

Rose and Chris had taken cover behind pillars while Alex looked around for them. He smirked dryly.

"You're so ambitious, aren't you, my children?" he called, to them, "You see a lot, the two of you, no doubt from experience. But are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself?"

Chris gestured from across the room for Rose to continue to speak to Alex, hopefully distract him so that he could make his move and end this before it could get even more out of hand. Rose nodded her acknowledgement and called out to the man from her hiding spot.

"What about it?" she shouted.

Alex smiled thoughtfully. "Why don't you look at yourself?" he suggested, "Why don't you find your true being as you stand in that room of mirrors seeing every lie and every mask you wear?"

Chris moved silently, stealthily behind Alex, carefully drawing his knife from his boot.

"It is such a shame, Rose," Alex continued, "I had hoped that you would see the truth for yourself. But...I suppose that you wouldn't be the first person I would have to teach a lesson to."

Chris raised his knife and plunged it into Alex's back, stabbing into the vulnerable organ that he knew beat blood and life into him. The man's entire frame jolted roughly and his eyes snapped wide; he seemed to have been surprised by Chris' jump attack. His mouth fell open in a sharp gasp of pain; Chris wrapped his arm around his throat and brought his lips to Alex's ear.

"Die, you sick son-of-a-bitch!" he hissed.

And then, he cracked Alex's neck with ease, snapping the vertebrae like they were mere toys. Rose flinched at the horrible bubbling sound and slowly climbed up from her hiding spot. She stared down at Alex's lifeless body with Chris. The man's tongue was hanging out of his parted lips and it looked disgusting. A pool of blood began to form around his corpse.

"Is he dead?" Rose wondered.

Chris snorted and looked at her skeptically. "They never are."

He pressed his boot into Alex's face and slammed the heel down hard, splitting his skull like a coconut which exposed gooey, red brain tissue and veins. Satisfied with the lack of movement, Chris turned to go and Rose followed suit. They laughed softly to one another, relieved by their victory. It had been more quick than they thought and so much easier as well. Nothing could heal from a damaged brain and heart, they were certain of that.

"Heh. So much for that. He wasn't so bad ass after all," Rose said, "I guess it's true what they say: you can't ever really heal a broken heart." She chuckled softly at her own terribly placed joke.

"Soooo true..."

The two froze immediately in their spots and their eyes went wide in disbelief. They slowly turned and Alex was rising to his feet in a painful and broken manner. He grabbed both sides of his head and cracked it several ways, moving the bones back into their proper place. The split in his skull began to stitch its way back together in a sickening display of regeneration. He smiled at their horrified expressions, wiping a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth. He took a step forward, but paused and reached behind his back, wincing and yanking out the knife.

"Well, I suppose that would be true in my case, Rose," he said, studying the blade, "If I had a heart to begin with."

He flung the knife aside and it clattered to the floor.

"Have you not listened to anything that I have said, Chris? You cannot kill me."

Chris and Rose backed away as Alex advanced. "So what are you going to do, then?" Rose demanded, "You're not a fucking god! You think that we were put on this earth just to serve you?"

Alex's brows arched. "Serve me? Oh no, my dear. You were both put on this earth to serve my plans."

"I'd hate to break it to you, but we have other plans," Wesker sneered.

Alex brightened and he seemed more than happy with that response. "Then let's not keep you waiting for much longer."

He charged for them.

O

Beth, Claire and the two Russians made their way down the halls to find Jonas and Chris. They paused briefly to take a breather and Ivan looked down at Claire with a weak smile. She returned it and removed a rag from her coat pocket, wiping his forehead a little. The touch was almost tender.

"You're a bit of a mess, big guy..." she said, quietly.

Ivan closed his eyes and murmured slightly. "I'm sorry, Miss. Redfield," he told her.

"What for?"

Ivan glanced back briefly. "For what happened back there and..." He paused, seemingly collecting his own thoughts before he gestured to his own face with a frustrated groan. "I wish I could do something about this!"

Claire stopped in her ministrations and shook her head. "Ivan, don't apologize. None of this is your fault."

He smiled weakly.

"We need to find Jonas!" Beth cried.

Claire looked at her with a hopeless grimace. "Beth, we might have to face the facts," she told her, "He could be-"

"Don't say it!"

Ivan gestured for Mikhail to offer him his walkie-talkie. He took it and brought it to his lips. "Igor, have you and Leon set up the detonation charges?" he asked, "Also, have Andrei and Dmitrii finished up on the East side of the facility?"

_"Andrei and Dmitrii have failed to report back, Ivan," _Igor responded, _"But do not worry. I have enough to take this place down."_

Mikhail grimaced slightly, shaking his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "_O bozhe_ (Oh God)...You know, Ivan. It's coming back to me. Ah yes. We've done this in the past. Do you recall the cafe shop in Moscow?" he told his friend with a skeptical look, "It's that memory that leads me to believe that this plan may not work."

"It will work," Ivan assured him.

_"Ivan. We don't have quite enough," _Igor responded, _"But I have decided on...using the power of the central core system to aid in its destruction."_

Suddenly, the halls were filled with armed guards. Ivan and the others scattered in different rooms as shellfire nearly ripped them apart. The guards shouted in a collection of different languages, which perplexed those hiding from them until an English-speaking guard spoke up.

"Come out!" he ordered, "Come out, or we will kill you!"

Mikhail growned in frustration, hiding behind a desk with Claire beside him. "Goddamn it! I'm getting too old for this crap..." he muttered, reaching onto his belt for a grenade. Then, he looked at her and smiled slightly. "I never thought this war would end with me standing beside an American..."

Claire smiled at him. "How about a friend then?"

Mikhail nodded his head. "No, not an American...a fellow ally." He exhaled and stared down at the grenade in his hand before looking at Claire once more. "I did not trust you before. I had often considered myself to be a very cautious man in my life. Heh. Maybe I was wrong about that too. Maybe I was just afraid. But you are indeed a strange one; I have never met someone as open-minded as you... But if she were alive, my sister would have loved you." His eyes glinted over with a look of memory before he grimaced slightly. "Claire Redfield; please forgive me. If I am to die then-"

"You're going to live, you old nut," Claire insisted, "You're too much of a hardass to die on me now!"

Mikhail laughed lowly.

Suddenly, their room was filled with guards pointing their weapons down at them. Claire was forcefully yanked to her feet and Mikhail grunted as two more men forced him up as well. They raised their hands up in surrender, but Mikhail's left one was enclosed.

"What's in your hand?!" one of the guards demanded frantically.

Mikhail smirked with a shrug and opened the hand, revealing the pulled pin of the grenade. The men looked down, seeing the grenade rolling at their feet. They dove to avoid it and Mikhail grabbed Claire. They ducked behind a lab table as the grenade exploded, sending showers of debris everywhere. The other two who had taken cover in other rooms were jerked violently from the explosion; Ivan had shielded Beth by throwing them both behind an overturned stretcher.

Once the dust settled, the guards groaned as they were slowly regaining consciousness. A few of them were not getting up, impaled through their bodies with debris and shrapnel. Claire helped Mikhail stand and he winced, chuckling weakly.

"Heh. Take it easy. I'm an old man, you know..." he told her.

She laughed and shook her head, grunting against the twist in her ankle from their fall. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"_Da_. I know," Mikhail replied, with amusement.

Claire peered across the halls, but didn't dare stick her head out. "Are you guys okay?" she yelled.

"Yeah!" Beth yelled back.

Suddenly, the still-living guards frantically scrambled to their feet and started running in the other direction. Claire frowned thoughtfully and scowled. "Hey! Is anybody still alive out there?" she yelled, "Because if you are, we-"

A bellowing roar was the response she received. It sounded a bit distant, but still close enough to be heard. Everyone in the rooms grew silent, somewhat uneasy now at the sound of the inhuman scream. Claire cleared her throat and weakly called out.

"Anybody else?" she whispered.

The four stepped out of their rooms, horrified by what they saw coming for them.

Slowly making his way down a hall was an enormous creature with a disproportionate right arm, and a large tumor-like eyeball had developed within the shoulder along with lengthy, tipped spines. His other arm had elongated past his feet and the fingers stretched into long, sharp claws. The irises of his eyes had stretched past the brown, and now, his eyes were nothing more than pitch black pools; there was no signs of humanity in them any longer.

It was Jonas.

O

"Holy shit!" Claire growled, grabbing Beth's arm and running back the way that they had come.

Jonas uttered a low, bellowing animal roar and gave chase, thundering down the halls; he slashed walls and light fixtures in his path, frantically attempting to kill the fleeing beings. Beth was horrified and sorrow-stricken, trying to rebuke what was real behind her.

"No!" she moaned, "Jonas, no! No, no, no!"

"Keep moving!" Claire shouted.

The four fled from the monstrosity by rushing into a stairway. Jonas madly attempted to fit his way inside the door, but his claws refused to allow him passage. The four backed away, watching as his inhuman face glowered hatefully at them, saliva dripping from his mouth.

"What'd they do to him?" Beth moaned.

Mikhail shook his head. "I do not know, but that won't hold forever! Go!"

They raced down the stairway, frantically trying to lose sight of the infected Jonas before he managed to get loose. Ivan quickly led them to a doorway labeled "SECTOR FIVE; ENGINEERING" and they rushed inside a room filled with pipes, generators and machinery used to operate the power system of the facility. Once they were inside, Ivan twisted the handle of the door and worked on pushing a system monitor against it.

"It won't hold forever," he told them, "But we are in the appropriate place. We must hurry to the Main Power Core before it finds us."

Beth seemed unable to accept the fact that Jonas was really gone. She was almost at tears. "W-We can help him!" she mumbled frantically, "We can help him, can't we?" She didn't react when Claire grabbed her shoulders. "Please, you know what it is! We can help him!"

"Look at me!" Claire insisted, "I have seen the G-virus and what it does! You can't save him!"

"No! We can!"

"HE'S GONE!" Claire shouted; her voice softened now and she looked at Beth with pity. "I'm sorry, but the Jonas you knew is dead. Once G takes ahold of its host, then there's no going back. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about."

Beth withered and started sobbing softly.

Ivan and Mikhail watched the scene for a moment, not certain whether they should have interrupted it. "Comrade Ivan, it is an honor to always fight by your side," Mikhail told him softly, "We have lost loved ones and friends this day... Let's send these rats scurrying back to the filth of their master!"

Ivan nodded in agreement. His eyes and voice took on a darker note. "Indeed, my friend. For every ounce of blood they have shed, they will understand what pain truly is."

A loud banging sound drew their attention to the door. It lurched against the brutal swings of what was obviously Jonas' claws attempting to break through. They quickly hurried off with frightened, furious curses toward the Main Power Core. Ivan clicked on the walkie-talkie.

"Are those damn charges ready to go?" he demanded breathlessly.

_"Yes!" _Leon's voice suddenly responded. _"What's the problem?"_

Ivan grimaced and looked over his shoulder. "We may have a visitor..."

The four rushed into another room labeled "MAIN POWER CORE. AUTHORIZED PERSONNELLE ONLY". Leon was kneeling down with the remaining Russian group and they looked up at the sight of the others emerging.

"We need heavy firepower!" Claire breathed, "We can't take this bastard on ourselves!"

Beth punched her in the shoulder; a desperate attempt to maintain her volatile feminine demeanor and failing at it miserably because of the sorrow and emotion she felt right now. "It's still Jonas!" she cried, "He's still our friend!"

There was a loud banging sound that drew them all toward the door. The sound grew louder and louder. Finally, a set of claws punched through the metal and began to peel it aside like a sardine can. The group watched the scene in horror as the deformed face of Jonas peeked through the crack with his lifeless black pools leering out at them.

"What the HELL is that?!" Viktor demanded, raising his shotgun.

Leon readied his handgun. "Alex must have gotten to your friend," he told Beth, "Come on! Follow me, I have an idea!"

"For once, I'm inclined to listen..." Ivan murmured.

The group followed Leon as he led them further and further down a flight of circular stairs. After a moment of peeling the metal away, the creature emerged, snarling and sniffing the air. Its red, close-ranged vision picked up the sight of them as they disappeared further down the stairway. The creature moved swiftly, scaling down the length of the tower of stairs...from the very center.

As the group made it to the very bottom where the constantly rotating central power source hummed loudly, waiting for them was Jonas. Leon stumbled back a few paces and Beth gave a terrified cry.

"Oh my God!" she shouted.

The monster stomped heavily toward them, nostrils flaring as it breathed.

_Kill. Kill. Kill._

_It. Will. Be. So. Easy. To. Kill. Them._

"Jonas!" Beth cried, desperately, her voice sick with loss and disgust, "Please! Don't do this! We're your friends!"

The monster tilted its human head to one side, studying her. Viktor took the opportunity to open fire on the creature and it gave a low, bellowing shriek of fury and pain, raising its clawed arm toward its head to protect itself.

"Fucking hell, shoot the damn thing, woman!" Viktor spat, at her, "That's not Jonas anymore!"

The monster dropped its claws and snarled at them.

"Jonas, please!" Beth begged, aiming her TMP at the creature's human head, "Don't make me do this!"

The creature did not react to her pleas but continued to advance with murder and blood lust gleaming in those dead, black pools. The Russians continued to pump round after round into it, but the bullets ripped through the monster's flesh uselessly, doing no damage and not once breaking its stride.

"Goddamn it!" Ivan cursed, reaching behind his back and taking out a pump shotgun.

But Jonas gave him no chance of that. He reached out with a roar and grabbed Ivan by the head. The man struggled to break free and felt nothing but air beneath his feet. The monster that had once been Jonas Burton was lifting him off of his feet in the grip of its claws. Ivan tried to break the claws with his own two hands, but there was no releasing himself against something like this.

"Ivan, no!" Claire shouted desperately.

The claws slowly started to clench tightly around his head. Soon, the pressure would crush it like a coconut and if Ivan didn't get free soon, he was as good as dead.

And then, just as soon as it had picked him up, it suddenly released him. Ivan felt cold floor beneath him and he quickly scampered to his feet before the creature could grab at him again.

The group watched Jonas' entire body spasm in pain and he grabbed his own head with his slightly less dangerous arm, moaning eerie, demonic sounds of what appeared to be internal suffering. Was he fighting the monster within him? From the sight and sounds of his torment, Beth could only guess that he was struggling to hold back the inhumanity in him for as long as he could.

She was wrong.

Jonas' monstrous abdomen began to swell and expand, ripping wide open with a sickening sound that the two viewers nearly retched at. It appeared to be its own insides spilling open and ribs showing through the exposed, bloodless wound.

And with the last ounce of humanity left, Jonas could hear Alex's words echoing in the fading corners of his fleeting thoughts.

_"...with my own ...personal touch..."_

_"...personal touch..."_

_Personal touch..._

Jonas' skull split five different ways and new layer of bone formed in placement of the old, creating a slender, reptilian jawline. His abdomen caved into itself and two squishy bulbs formed right above, similar to wriggling eyeballs. Sharp, dagger-like teeth slid out from Jonas' stomach cavity and a long, whip-like tail ripped whatever was left of his human clothes in two. Several spikes ripped up from his bulging flesh that had grown in size to accommodate its massive mandible, a gaping, circular stomach cavity surrounded by rows of spike-like projections, which has now fused into the many spikes that formerly covered the thorax of the beast.

"Holy shit!" Viktor cried, "He fucking changed?"

The now fully transformed monster moved heavily toward them, nostrils flaring rapidly, breath heaving through its chest. It swiped its claws out and smacked Ivan aside, sending the man tumbling into the pipe-laden walls. Just as Beth raised her weapon, claws connected with her as well, sending her to the floor with a sharp cry of pain. Heat laced up the length of her arm and she glanced down, noticing three large cuts gushing bright red blood through her ripped jacket.

"Ahh..."

The monster loomed over her and uttered a low, menacing hiss, reaching out to grab her and Ivan quickly crawled on his belly to seize his shotgun and pump a round directly for the creature's skull. It recovered immediately and snarled at him.

Ivan's brows went up. "_der'mo_ (Shit)."

O

Rose and Chris made every attempt to flank Alex and surpass him in strength or skills, hoping and relying on their owwn fighting abilities and their superiority in numbers, but it seemed that every action that they threw at him was countered by his quick acting and martial arts. Alex was a foe like no other; he was not like Spencer or Albert in any way. He did not monologue in arrogance or stop to breathe once.

Chris lunged at him in a full-force tackle and the two were hurtled into a pillar at such a high speed, it looked like a gigantic human bowling ball of flailing limbs. The impact caused the pillar to collapse and rain plaster down onto the two combatants. Rose watched with shock and they climbed from the rubble; Chris looked pissed and Alex looked absolutely delighted.

"We're both professionals, I guess. But I'm not going to let you run this world. You ...are done." Chris hissed.

He drove his elbow into Alex's face which for some strange reason, he allowed for himself to receive. Chris prepared to follow up with another blow, obviously empowered by his success, but Alex recovered and with a spinning karate kick slammed Chris back to the floor. He loomed over his enemy with a smile.

"Aren't you proud of what I have accomplished all for the sake of saving your pitiful species?" he sneered, "Don't you find it so magnificent that I can be anyone in the entire world? I can be a dear friend," He morphed his face into Barry Burton's, speaking in his voice, "A dear, dear friend whom you've shared such a marvelous past with. Or I can be," He morphed his features again and this time, he was wearing Wesker's face and speaking in his voice, "your greatest enemy."

Chris didn't take the bait the way Rose had; he was not so easily influenced by mere trickery. Then, when he jumped to his feet and actually did charge, it was actually unexpected. The two men continued to fight brutally and Rose followed into it, Chris and Alex both brought years of their martial artist training in and Rose-being much of a novice-fought based on her own instincts; her moves were more wild and blind, intent only to wound as much as she possibly could. She was driven by a more personal force than Chris was because of her fallen mother and father. She wanted to kill like no other.

Rose made an attempt to drive her fist into Alex's throat in a killing blow, but he twisted free from Chris' assault, slamming an elbow into her kidney before she could even make a move. Rose groaned and lurched forward and that was when Alex slammed his heel into the side of her head, sending her toppling to the floor in a flurry of limbs. He smiled and circled her with a new form of respect.

"I like you, Rose," he said, softly, "I understand you. You want to dominate like Albert. You hate me and want to take my place as ruler of this world, don't you? I can give it all to you, Rose. Simply ask for it and it is all yours, everything that you could ever have wanted...at your very fingertips. Resist and you will lose what precious friendship still thrives among the others."

"Never!" Rose spat.

"Do you know what your poor friend did before I purified his very body?" Alex continued, as if she hadn't even said a word, "He wept. He begged and pleaded with me like a terrified child." His voice increased to a bizarre falsetto. "'Please, please...I don't want this'..."

"What are you talk..." Rose trailed off in mid rant and realization began to spark in her eyes. "No..." She shook her head rapidly, trying to deny it all that she wanted, but in truth, the result was still the same. "No. No, you didn't...No! NO!" Tears prickled the corners of her eyes and she practically screamed at the top of her lungs. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?"

Alex laughed loudly with pleasure, leaning his head back.

Rose screamed in anguish and covered her eyes with tight, trembling fists. Chris raised a hand to her in warning, knowing full well that Alex was baiting them on with his actions and words. "Rose, don't!" he whispered, harshly at the corner of her ear, "He wants to mess with you so you can't concentrate! He's baiting you on. Jonas is probably fine and safe with the others right now. Don't let him do this to yo..."

Rose didn't hear him or really, she heard nothing anymore. She screamed with rage and sorrow, charging for Alex like an angry rhino with tears and saliva streaming from her. He grabbed her around the waist and immediately drove his fist into her stomach, choking her air supply off and he kicked her in the face which sent her to the floor. Chris charged almost immediately and Alex kicked him in the face with a wicked spinning kick and Chris was down.

Alex cocked his head down at Rose as she choked on her own blood that dripped down her nose. He smiled gently and shook his head before reaching down and wiping her nose of the blood.

"Would you like to know the secret of pain, Rose?" he whispered, "Once you no longer feel it then it becomes that much easier to use it."

Meanwhile, Leon and the others were having the worst possible time.

"Goddamn it, he just won't go down!" Grigori shouted.

"He's too strong!" Beth cried.

The monster swung its claws wildly; a blind gesture meant only in an attempt to kill them, slashing tubes and pipes that sent steam flying through the air. Ribbons of electricity wound themselves through the air and ignited gasoline tubes ripped from its assault. The group ducked from the jets of flame, narrowly missing being burned from them. They backed away and looked around for the sight of the creature, but it seemed to have disappeared in the wild onslaught.

"Shit! Where'd he go?" Leon demanded, looking around.

Rolan looked up and his eyes went wide. "LOOK OUT!"

They all looked up with him and spotted the monster diving right for them; it had jumped clear over the jets of flame. The two rushed in opposite directions to avoid being crushed as it came down in a thunderous tremble, impaling Yuri through the claws. The others had rolled out of the way and looked up in shock as the G monster snarled at a screaming Yuri impaled by its claws.

"Yuri!" Ivan roared.

Yuri frantically thrashed about, just as the creature lifted him over the gaping maw in its abdomen. The teeth glittered with saliva, the eyes rolled around wetly and the monster seemed to grin at the wriggling, kicking man in its clutches. Yuri swung his leg and his foot chipped one of the many teeth, but it only drew a small grunt from the creature.

"Shoot me!" he shrieked through a mouthful of blood, not willing to die as food, "SHOOT ME, IVAN!"

Ivan nodded his head gravely and raised his shotgun. "_Proshchay, soldat_ (Goodbye, soldier)..." he whispered.

Yuri smiled with relief and closed his eyes as Ivan squeezed the trigger. His body exploded in a spray of gore and the creature recoiled with a shriek of fury, seemingly unharmed by the shot, but more furious by the interference of its kill. It made its way toward Ivan with a fierce snarl before seizing Ivan by the throat.

Beth shook her head rapidly, her voice driven high in desperation and horror. "Jonas NO!" she screamed.

The creature instantly froze at the scream and slowly looked over at her. It's black, soulless eyes leered down into her own, to her very depths, chilling it to the barest of bones. Beth felt as if she were standing in a snowdrift at the very gaze. It's jaws opened and closed and soft hissing sounds rumbled from its vibrant chest. What was it thinking about if it was thinking at all? She couldn't let whatever was left of her friend die now.

"Please, Jonas!" Beth begged, tears threatening to burst from her, "Please, don't do it!"

The creature looked down at Ivan and it seemed to actually consider Beth's request. Its claws carefully opened and it dropped him to the floor. Ivan grunted sharply with pain, landing directly onto his arm. He quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the monster before it could reconsider taking a bite out of him. It lumbered toward Beth with mechanical grace, casually, soft and less-menacing growls filling the air. Beth trembled and scooted as far back from it as she could as it lowered its head down to her.

Beth met the gaze of the monster that stared down at her. Slowly, it began to reach out with its gigantic claws, but froze, inches over Beth's face. She winced somewhat as the tips of its claws grazed her cheek. When she felt them pull away, she looked up and noticed that this thing was stepping back from her, strange, tortured moans escaping its lips. It gave a frustrated roar and reached over with its smaller hand to pull back the arm.

_"No...No! B-Beth!..."_ Jonas' demonically blended voice burst forth, _"No...I don't want to hurt you...NO!"_

"Jonas!" Beth cried, up at him.

"Jesus..." Mikhail whispered, haunted by the sight.

The group watched in shock as it began to brutally rend its own gigantic arm with its other claws, slicing through leathery flesh, tearing at it it in a desperate attempt to stop itself from killing Beth. It even clawed at its own face, ripping bits of flesh clear off of its bones. Sorrowful, wounded howls emitted from its jaws and Jonas' voice was barely heard in between the cries.

_"No...please! I can't!"_ it screamed, a terrible, haunting moan, _"I can't! No! D-Don't! Please! Please, please, please..."_

Beth swallowed sharply, watching the torment her friend was enduring inside this mutation of a creature. Tears prickled the corners of her eyes and she listened to the strange, sobbing sound the creature seemed to make.

_"No...please! Beth...can't...hurt..." _it moaned. _"NO! NO!"_

Claire rushed to Beth's side while the monster struggled with itself. They backed away as it straightened up and cast its gaze below the stairs, toward the humming, crackling power core. It seemed to ponder something before looking back at them. Beth could not read what it might have been thinking about, but she could barely see a faint glimmer of Jonas left in its eyes.

"Jonas?" she whispered, terrified.

The monster wheezed heavily once and there it was. The humanity. There was Jonas' smile and every bit of love that he had for the woman and could never tell her. Everything was laid bare before her. "Beth ..." it gurgled, "Run ... "

Finally, it dropped itself off of the edge of the platform with a bellowing roar. Beth jumped to her feet with a shriek and rushed toward the edge, watching as Jonas' monstrous body plunged below, crashing into the power core, sending sparks shooting wildly through the air. Beth ducked as a single explosion to her left nearly singed her face off. Claire grabbed her wrist before she could become hit with another one.

"We gotta get out of here!" she shouted, as the entire tower began to rock wildly.

Beth sobbed bitterly, sick with loss and fright and she found the strength to do as he said. Groaning, she followed the others out of the room as it began to spark wildly with electricity and flames. The disrupted power core was going haywire, bursting pipes and wires behind them. Igor held a detonator button in his hands and smirked nastily, pressing it.

O

Inside the arena, Alex, Rose and Chris felt the shuddering impacts of the disrupted power core beneath their feet and they were swayed somewhat where they stood. Alex furrowed his brow with confusion and he looked up toward the observation deck as a single soldier rushed up to the shattered glass, breathless and frantic.

"SIR!" he shouted, "The main power core's gone critical! This whole place is going to go!"

"What?" Chris, Rose and Alex cried, simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Leon and the others were looking around wildly as the building rocked violently around them. Claire was desperately trying to contact her brother on the handheld, but stumbled back from the force of the explosions.

"We gotta go, like, now!" Beth shouted.

"Wait! What about Rose and Chris?" Claire demanded.

"They're strong!" Mikhail told her, "They can get out!"

The group nearly made it to the main lobby before Claire stopped and quickly activated her COM-link to get in contact with her brother. "Chris? Chris! Are you there?" She struggled to make her voice as powerful as she could. "Goddamn it, answer me!"

Chris could hear her on her side as plain as day. He winced and reached into his pocket to remove his handheld. "Claire, you have to get out of here. This whole place is going to go up. Get out with the others while you still can," he ordered, "We have something to take care of here."

_"What? Chris, that's suicide!"_ Claire cried.

Chris ignored her as he focused on Ivan. "Ivan? If I don't get out of here alive...take care of my sister."

Ivan's eyes widened slightly at the message.

Chris cut off the link before she could even protest what he wanted. He looked at Rose and noticed that she seemed surprised by her move and she looked at him with a strange look of respect for the very first time.

She smiled at him and he smiled carefully back. Then, the two turned to Alex, who chuckled softly at the sentimentality.

"Oh, how sweet," he hissed, "Sacrificing your life to save friends, strangers. Perhaps there is a certain nobility to you after all."

Chris took a menacing step forward. "Only one of us will get out of here," he told the man, "And that will not be you." He looked at Rose and spoke with hesitation this time, but a small smile lit his face-one of respect. "Both of us will."

Rose glanced over at him, astounded by the announcement. Alex simply sneered at it, as if the idea was nothing more than mere fantasy to him. How could they hope to destroy him? He was a God.

"Oh please..."

Chris and Rose stood in a fighting stance, prepared to fight to the bitter end if they had to. "The monsters you've created...The lives you've ruined..." Chris vowed, "It all ends here!"

Alex raised a single brow and contradicted the man, his eyes seemingly flickering. "Monster? Oh...no, boy. You have no idea what a true monster is!"

Suddenly, he tossed his head back and his eyes seemed to glow with bright red light. A low, bestial snarling sound echoed out of him. His jacket ripped at the spine as muscle and tissue began to sprout from his back. His fingers lengthened into long, sharp claws and his knees snapped forcefully back. Chris and Rose backed away in confusion as Alex began to change. But it was unlike anything that they had ever seen yet.

Alex's jaw lengthened and sharp teeth shot out from his gums. From his back emerged raw muscle and spikes that seemed to bend and form into enormous, leathery wings rippling with veins and muscular flesh. His yellow hair seemed to lengthen down his spine toward a tipped tail-like protrusion that emerged right behind it. His arms and legs bulges with raw muscle and power and his face morphed into something more feral and beastly.

"Shit!" Rose gasped, as the thing loomed over them.

Alex now resembled a primordial, demonic angel, hovering over them. His wings beat against his back and he raised his claws toward his cheek, speaking in a horrible, garbled voice blended with another.

"Now my children...Your final lesson is at hand!"

**Part Ten**

Leon and the remaining group members were running up the length of stairs that would lead them outside.

All around them the walls were shaking and pipes were bursting, sending small jets of flame right at them. Ivan gave a small grunt and shielded Claire from one of the jets before she would be singed from it. She looked up at him and he smiled casually, shaking the flame that had caught his hand on fire. It didn't seem to bother him at all as much as it would have seeing his treasure on fire.

"Don't want you to burn." he said.

There was something sensual in his words that Claire missed, but Leon caught easily. His eyes flared with fury as much as the fires did as they continued to the surface. Once they emerged into the cold night, they quickly sprinted toward the helicopter that Chris had brought with him. It was unclear how much damage the explosion would cause or how far its range would be, but they weren't taking any chances.

Ivan bent down to inspect Claire for damages. "Are you harmed?" he asked.

Claire shook her head, mumbling in a daze. She was obviously stunned by Chris' words and couldn't focus on anything else. Ivan gently shook her shoulders, worried by her change in behavior. "Miss. Redfield, please. I need you alive. I need you more than I deserve..." he pleaded gently.

She looked up at him with a sorrowful smile.

An explosion from the tower jolted everyone where they stood. They watched in shock and horror as a tower slowly started to collapse in the distance like a domino. It collided with another building, shooting up dust and a ball of flame. Mikhail cringed with pity and regret while Beth started crying. Claire lowered her head and Ivan did the same, placing a hand on her shoulder. Leon watched the explosions in the distance with a frown on his face. A part of him wanted Rose to get out alive.

Inside the facility, Rose and Chris were doing everything that they could to take out Alex. But with his new form and hovering at impossible heights, it became very difficult for them.

Alex hissed and swooped down, slamming his weight into Chris. His talons locked firmly around Chris' throat and he lifted him off of the floor, leering down at him with those horrible eyes.

"So long ago...They've taught you everything that made you what you are; you have been taught many ways to kill a man...Chris," he whispered, in that monstrous voice, "The flesh...it burns and tears; the bones break and shatter. All of this can be taught by a common man. Oh...but to break a man's spirit, is to truly destroy him!" He leaned forward and brought his dripping jaws closer to Chris' ear. "Tell me...Where does a man like YOU hurt the most?"

Suddenly, Rose leapt onto Alex's furry back and he shrieked furiously, tossing Chris aside and spinning through the air in a flurry of limbs and wings. Rose grabbed them in both hands and grunted with effort.

"Aww, Alex," she sneered, in a mock sweet voice in his ear, "I remember when you used to hold my hand when I was getting my injections in your office." She pursed her lips and spoke with determination now. "I didn't like it then, either!"

She yanked Alex's wings back, snapping them and the lack of a span sent him falling to the ground. Before he contacted the floor, he spun around and flung Rose beneath him, forcing her into the floor from the force, and in an instant, Alex lowered a small stinger from his tail. Rose struggled beneath his weight and had no time to react; as she opened her mouth to let out a shout, Alex stabbed her in the chest, and no noise emerged from her lips. The look of shock on her face was soon replaced by a limp and deadened look, and foam filled her mouth. She immediately fell limp in his clutches and Chris snarled with effort.

"Let her go, you goddamn freak!" he spat.

Alex smirked at him before dropping the lifeless Rose to the floor. Chris moved to go to her, but Alex shook his head. "Do not worry, she is not dead...Rose is simply out of commission for the moment. I wanted to speak with you."

"Really?" Chris sneered, pacing around the monster while Alex followed suit, "What else can you possibly say?"

Alex's eyes landed on Rose before he smiled at his enemy. "You cannot save them, Chris, no matter what it is you plan to do. Surely you understand that there is a price to pay for everything that you gain. Always."

Chris charged and Alex surged forward. Chris slashed at Alex's legs with his knife before he could take flight, but Alex continued forward, undeterred, attacking with those sharp talons and still deadly martial arts. One of his strikes sent Chris flying through the air. He recovered by grabbing one of the pillars that was still intact and performed a spinning flip through the air and returned back to Alex, kicking him hard in the stomach.

Alex reached out and grabbed Chris' arm, but he retaliated and grabbed him right back. Both fell from the air and hit the ground, hard. Alex climbed to his feet and shook the shards of rubble from his body. Behind him, Rose was slowly starting to regain consciousness, but he didn't seem to notice this at the moment.

"You were being used, boy," he said, "I escaped from those chains and you can too." He turned and gestured to himself. "I control this form unlike no other. Spencer could never have done what I have done under such blind influences."

Chris glanced at him up and down with a sneer. "Heh, is that right?" he said, "Tell me then, Alex; you consider yourself a reasonable kind of guy, am I right?"

"You are."

"Then in what way does attempting to enslave the human race and recreating it with Rose as the foundation fall into the category of reasonable?" Chris asked, with a mocking look, "Come to think of it, I had to face men and women who all thought they were some 'reasonable people'. I think Spencer was among one of those men."

Alex's smile disappeared. "I am nothing like him."

Chris chuckled softly. "Oh I'm not so sure about that, Alex," he argued, "There are definitely similarities there somewhere. The same arrogance, the same blind devotion to himself and no others...Why, you're practically brothers!"

Alex pointed a clawed finger at Chris. "Why do you fight me, Chris? Do you believe your way is the righteous way? You postpone humanity's renewal. Why? It is because you fear freedom. You fear waking up to a new world. A world soaked in the light only I can bring it." He inhaled and spoke, almost as if he seemed disappointed. "But you hold faithless hope in your victory over me, child. I am everything that you can ever hope to become and more."

Chris arched a single brow. "And what do you have faith in?"

"Nothing. I am so very...very...empty."

Chris smiled at him now. "Then I guess it wouldn't hurt you to die."

Another explosion rocked the entire tower and jarred the arena where Alex and Chris fought. A blast took out the bars in front of the massive, whirring fan and sent it scattering across the floor. Chris watched as the bars collapsed and his eyes slowly looked over at the fan blades. He looked up at Alex who was swooping down at him, that devious, clever smirk on his face.

Chris rolled out of the way and Alex swooped down again, catching Chris by the back of his head and carrying him high, toward the whirring fan. He smirked at him and slowly carried him toward the blades. Alex had known of his plan to use the fan to his advantage the entire time. He was always one step ahead and knew everything that Chris could ever plan up.

Or did he?

"It is a pity that it has come to this, Chris," he said, "You should have joined me. You should have been stronger."

Chris glanced down at Rose as she slowly made her way toward Alex; she was slowly drawing a knife from her boot and suddenly, he smiled, getting an idea. Alex knew him based on everything he had ever been taught. He knew that he would try to surpass him with the old ways of his. But did he know any of Rose's NEW tactics?

The two drew closer to the fan and Alex's barb slowly began to inch its way toward Chris' back. His voice sounded soothing and piteous all at once. There was no intention to kill the man it seemed, rather disable him.

"You won't feel a thing, I promise you..."

Chris smiled back at him. "I wish that I could say the same for you."

Alex frowned angrily and as he started to draw the stinger toward Chris' body, he grunted sharply with pain, looking back at Rose as she had stabbed the knife into his back, twisting sharply with a snarl of effort. Alex let out another hiss as she grabbed the stinger tail, forcing into his own body before he could penetrate Chris with it. Alex's eyes snapped wide in disbelief and he slowly drifted back down to the floor, bits of foam filling his mouth, releasing Chris.

Rose grinned and grabbed him by the throat, taking one powerful lunge with the remaining strength that he had and brought Alex's head toward the giant fan, standing gracefully onto the platform that passed beside the rotating blades. Alexs grimaced somewhat before he met her eyes. In his own, there was a look of sadness there; pity, and for once, maybe even a glimmer of weakness. But he was still emotionless in the face of his own demise.

"Rose...Remember who it was to gave you this life..." he breathed, foam beginning to trick down his jagged mouth, "Remember that it was I who chose you... You could have been the goddess that you so rightfully deserved to be..."

Rose nodded her head breathlessly. "Yeah. You really should have thought that one over better!"

Finally, she thrust Alex into the fan's blades and watched as he was literally shredded alive, into many tiny, chunky pieces that flew everywhere. One of his claws caught her ankle and nearly yanked her into the fan, but Chris grabbed her hand before she could be shredded alive as well. He pulled her free and she kicked the remains off of her leg.

"Let's hurry!" Chris shouted.

O

Chris and Rose sprinted madly through the facility and emerged outside where the others looked relieved to see them coming and they were thrown off of their feet as the final detonation destroyed the remainder of the facility. They regained their footing and stared at the roaring flames and plumes of smoke. Chris weakly smiled at Rose and she chuckled, shaking her head as they stood up, helping each other to their feet. The others rushed over to them and Claire was frantically embracing her brother.

"Don't EVER scare me like that agin!" she snapped.

Chris laughed. "You know I had it under control."

Claire just groaned, amused and furious all at the same time.

"Let's get out of here," Mikhail said, rolling his eyes with a weary grunt.

The surviving group took the helicopter off of the island, watching the smoke and blaze as it slowly disappeared over the horizon. The trip was mostly in silence for the loss of comrades and friends in the attack. Ivan winced as Claire wrapped his clawed arm and cleaned the wounds on his face from his blood thirsty rampage. He gave her a faint smile and she returned it. Leon watched the scene with dismay before his handheld beeped. He switched it on and Hunnigan's face appeared.

_"Leon, what's your status?" _she asked.

Leon glanced sidelong at Claire and Ivan before he cleared his throat. "It's done, Hunnigan," he told her, "Alex Wesker's dead and the facility he was hiding out in is gone."

_"And what of Ivan?"_

Leon caught Ivan's tense look and Claire's warning one. He seemed to contemplate his response before smiling and giving a nod. He looked down at Hunnigan. "Sorry. Ivan was killed when the facility went up," he told her.

Hunnigan smiled and seemed to understand otherwise. _"So long as he stays dead." _

"I'll have a full report soon."

Leon ended the conversation and Ivan nodded his head respectfully. "Thank you."

Mikhail reached into his jacket and removed a flask. He took a drink and leaned back against the wall of the helicopter. He relaxed for a moment before offering the flask to Leon. "Would you care for a drink or are your little feminine taste buds no match for Russian vodka?" he said, chuckling.

Leon gave him a look and took the flask. He stared down at it before raising it. "To freedom?" he tried.

The Russians smiled and nodded at that. When Leon took a drink, he gave a sharp mumble and grimaced at the strength of the drink that had nearly burned a hole in his esophagus, attempting to suck it up and smile inadequately at his watchers. The Russians laughed mirthfully at his expression.

As they began to talk and laugh together, Chris looked at Rose as he piloted the helicopter. He smiled at her. "Well...it's all over now," he said, "What are you going to do now?"

She responded with a weary smile of her own. "I think I'm going to sleep now."

Chris nodded his head. "Yeah, we all will."

THE END

"In memory of Albert Wesker. 1960-2009"


End file.
